
Class 
Book- 






Cojpght}}^_ 



COIOffJIGllT DEPOSXK 



IVOMEN OF COLON ML AND 
REVOLUTIONARY TIMES ^ 






'Wo/ for your own behoof alone, hut for your country s^ 
wereyour children reared'* Cicero. 



WOMEN OF COLONIAL AND 
REyOLU'JIONARY TIMES ^^ 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

BY HARRIOTT HORRY RAyENEL 



WITH FACSIMILE 
REPRODUCTION 




^osf^ 



^^ 



CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 

NEW YORK MDCCCXCVI 



I (s^ 



Copyright^ rSgO, by 
Charles Scribner's Sons 



1 

^7 



Entljrrsttn P«sb: 
John Wilson and Son, Cambridge, U.S.A. 



TO THE MEMORY OF 
MY FATHER'S SISTER 

MISS ELIZA LUCAS RUTLEDGE 

BY WHOSE COURAGE AND PIETY 

THESE LETTERS 

WERE SA VED FROM THE FLAMES 

THIS BOOK IS 

AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED 



PREFACE 

In preparing this life of Mrs. PincTcney^ I 
have^ as ivill he seen, kept as closely as possible 
to the very numerous letters which she has left 
us, and to a few others written by members of 
her family or friends. 

The task of selecting such of these, or such 
portions of these, as might best stiit the purpose 
proposed, — namely, the illustration of the social 
and domestic life of the time and place, — has 
been my chief duty. I have endeavored to show, 
as well as might be, the way of thought, the occu- 
pations, manners, and customs of the women of 
Carolina in the last century. 

When compelled to seek other sources of infor- 
mation, in order to complete the picture, I have 
■ consulted the most nearly contemporaneous au- 
thorities accessible, preferring to show the opiyi- 
ions and beliefs of the people of the day rather 
than to seek the judgment of posterity. For this 
end the authors consulted have been our native 
historians, Ramsay, Moultrie, Drayton, etc., all 
of whom were, for the Revolutionary j^eriod, a 
part of the story ivhich they tell. 



PREFACE 



For the accoimt of the earliest events men- 
tioned^ I must acknowledge my obligation to the 
very interesting papers published by the Hon. 
W. A. Courtenay, in many successive Year 
Books of the City of Charleston. 

I have been careful to distinguish between 
those statements for which there is written author- 
ity and those which rest on tradition only. WJien 
the Family Legend is quoted, a manuscript 
account of some events in the Pinckney family, 
hy Miss Maria Henrietta, eldest daughter of 
General Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, born in 
1774, is referred to. Too diffuse and intimate 
for publication, it yet gives many details such as 
could have been supplied by no one else. 

When ''tradition'' is giveyi, I mean the stories 
and accoimts of Mrs. Pinckney' s grayidchildren ; 
the old people to whose conversation I listened in 
childhood and youth, drinking in their endless 
tales of the old time and of the part which their 
relations and friends had borne in it. 

For these traditions I have been careful not to 
trust my own memory alone, and have written 
only such things as are corroborated by the 
recollections of the other survivi^ig members of the 
same generation. 

HARRIOTT HORRY [RUTLEDGE] RAVENEL. 
Charleston, February, 1896. 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

I— FIRST YEARS IN CAROLINA, 1737- 
1742 

Cause of the Removal from Antigua to Carolina — 
Miss Lucas's Early Letters— Her Interest in Agri- 
culture — The Commercial Situation at this Time . . i 

II— MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 1741- 
n43 

Miss Lucas's Description of Life in Charleston and its 
Neighborhood — Social Affairs — A Famous Ecclesias- 
tical Trial — The Daily Business of the Plantations . . 17 

III— A COUNTRY NEIGHBORHOOD, 
174^-1744 

Miss Lucas's Pleasure in Rural Pursuits — Her Neigh- 
bors and their Ancestry — Drayton Hall — Social Gaye- 
ties in Country Houses— A Picture of an Old-time 
Dinner and Dance — Description of Crowfield ... 37 

IV— MARRIAGE, 1742-1744 

English Correspondence— War with the Spaniards — 
Oglethorpe's Expedition and its Result — Miss Lucas's 
Concern for her Brother George — Her Marriage to 

Charles Pinckney 58 

ix 



CONTENTS 



y—THE PINCKNEY FAMILY 

The First Emigrant of the Name — Charles Town in 
the Seventeenth Century — The Growth and Influence 
of the Family —Exposure of the Colony to French and 
Spanish Attacks — The Pirates 71 

n— EARLY MARRIED LIFE, 1742-1747 

Mrs. Pinckney's Affection and Esteem for her Hus- 
band — His Traits of Character — She Resents an 
Attack upon him — Letters to and from Governor Lucas 
— Belmont — Experiments in the Cultivation of Indigo 88 

yil— MOTHERHOOD, 1745-174S "^ 

Birth of a Son — Mansion House, a Typical Colonial 
Town House — Its Interior Arrangement and its Fur- 
niture — Mrs. Pinckney's "Resolutions;" An Elabo- 
rate Code of Morals — Commercial and Industrial 
Affairs— Silk, Flax, and Hemp — Death of Governor 
Lucas »o8 

yill—yiSIT TO ENGLAND. 175^-1758 

Mr. Pinckney appointed Chief Justice of the Colony — 
Made Commissioner of the Colony in London — The 
Hurricane of 1752 — The Voyage to England — Small- 
pox — The Pinckneys Received by the Princess of 
Wales — A Lively Account of the Event — Social 
Life in England — Return to America 134 

IX— DEATH OF CHIEF JUSTICE PINCK- 
NEY, 17^8-17^9 

Effect upon Mrs. Pinckney — Her Letters to her Chil- 
dren and Intimate Friends— Her English Correspond- 
ence — Mr. Pinckney's Will. — His Character. 167 

X—THE INDIAN WARS. 1759-J76J 

Mrs. Pinckney's Partial Recovery from her Grief — 
Her Return to P.elmont and to Plantation Life — The 
Daily Routine of the Mistress — War with the Chero- 

kees — Peace at Last 187 

X 



CONTENTS 

PACK 

XI— LETTERS TO ENGLISH FRIENDS, 
iy6o-iy62 

Mrs. Pinckney's Letters to her Sons at School in Eng- 
land — A Letter from Miss King — Death of King ^ 
George IL — Loyalty of the American Colonies— High 
Quality of Mrs. Pinckney's English Friendships ... 207 

XII— DOMESTIC AND SOCIAL DETAILS. 
iy62-iy6g 

Society in Charles Town — Interest in Literature — 
The "Dancing Assembly "— Miss Pinckney enters 
Society— Her Portrait — Her Girlish Letters — Her 
Marriage to Mr. Horry 226 

XIII— BEGINNING OF THE RESOLUTION. 

1773-^780 

Sentiment in Carolina — Close Relations with Eng- 
land — Marriage of Mrs. Pinckney's Eldest Son — First 
Visible Signs of Resistance — Travelling in Olden 
Days — Progress of Hostilities — Capitulation of Charles 
Town 248 

XIl^—END OF THE RESOLUTION. 1781-- 

1782 

Experiences of Colonel Pinckney— Charles Town dur- 
ing its Occupation by the British — Traditions of Marion 
and Tarleton — Sufferings of the Country People — 
Major Pinckney Wounded — Mrs. Motte's Patriotism 
— Evacuation of Charles Town 281 

Xy~OLD AGE AND DEATH 1783-1793 

Mrs. Pinckney's Devotion to her Grandchildren — She 
Receives General Washington in 1791 — Her Last Let- 
ter.— Her Departure for Philadelphia — Her Death — 
Her Descendants — The Lesson of her Life .... 306 



Xi 



(n^ ftJt^djr^ k ffi4j mx^M tyw^ n^u) ^m 






cp^f\/V' h^-d 






^o^ cj£^ilu 



im^ 



4' 



MRS. PINCKNEY, 

SENT FROM WAPPOO BY MESSENGER TO 



•' ' ' f p 

^w^ H^^ my cyfvM^ ""t^^i • /'^ Wi^idi) ifi t^/^ 

' /^ J'fhh'^J (^ ft^liO nrfiO kurVi. Ht^CX^ ^Ot> 

i4^ "^ /fid /^ ip^jiii^ U Mi^j% rn^it cjpvc^ 



HER HUSBAND 

RLES TOWN IN JUNE OR JULY, 1741 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 



FIRST YEAKS IN CAROLINA 
1737-1742 

In the year 1737 or 1738 Lieutenant-Colonel 
George Lucas, an officer of the English army, 
stationed at the West Indian island of Antigua, 
came to the Province of South Carolina with 
his wife and daughters. They came in search 
of a climate which might suit the very delicate 
health of Mrs. Lucas, and they liked Carolina 
so well, that, with a view of remaining there, 
Colonel Lucas bought land and settled plan- 
tations. 

There was at the time a cessation of hostili- 
ties in the long war between England and Spain, 
and had the expected peace been concluded 
this plan might have been carried out. But 
negotiations were broken off, and Colonel 
Lucas was obliged to part with his family and 
hurry back to Antigua ; of which place he was 
soon after made Royal Governor. Mrs. Lucas 
1 1 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

being in bad health, her husband left their eld- 
est daughter Eliza in charge of all his affairs 
in Carolina, and it is her life which we shall 
attempt to picture. 

It is offered as that of a woman of character 
and capacity, who in a private station, by her 
enterprise and perseverance, conferred a great 
benefit upon her adopted home ; and as that of 
a mother, who, left at an early age to fight 
the battle of life single handed, trained her 
sons from infancy to know and to do their 
duty to their God and their country. She 
might be presented as a typical southern ma- 
tron, a representative of her class ; but to the 
general reader her life is, perhaps, most in- 
teresting when viewed as an instance of that 
force of environment which did so much for 
the making of America. We hardly recognize 
now, how much the country moulded the people, 
and formed, not perhaps character (for charac- 
ter comes of race and faith, and is, at its "best, 
superior to circumstance), but feeling and opin- 
ion, — the opinion which makes action. It is 
unfortunate that we have absolutely no infor- 
mation about her ancestry beyond that already 
furnished. The destruction by the British of 
her plantation home, and a fire which occurred 
in 179(3, in which her house in what was then 
called Charles Town was destroyed, consumed 

2 



FIRST YEARS IN CAROLINA 

all the papers which might have thrown inter- 
esting light upon the families, in their English 
homes, of the mother and father of Miss Lucas. 

This lady, afterwards the proud mother of 
two " rebel " sons, was in her youth the most 
enthusiastically loyal of subjects, and Avas 
brought up so to be ; for her father was, to use 
Browning's phrase, '' the King's," and she had 
been educated in England, and in every way as 
an English girl. She, with her two brothers, 
had been sent " home," as East Indian children 
are now, to the care of a friend of the family 
by whom they were brought up. This lady, 
Mrs. Boddicott, lived in London, but in what 
part of it we do not know, nor do we know 
how many years Miss Lucas remained there, 
but judging from the letters it was for a long 
period. 

From the time of her coming to Carolina her 
letters show her life. These letters, careful 
compositions many of them, were copied out 
into a long parchment-covered book, which 
has survived the perils of two wars and of 
fire, having been literally "plucked as a brand 
from the burning" by one pious descendant. 
They were copied, so that if "our Feb?: fleet" or 
" our Oct", vessels " fell into the hands of the 
ever present enemy, a duplicate might be sent. 
If time failed to copy in full, a coi)ions mcmo- 

3 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

randum was made. " Wrote my papa about," 
etc., etc. This is comprehensible enough, but 
why all the letters and notes addressed to 
friends in Charles Town, only seventeen miles 
off, should also have been carefully entered, 
passes the understanding of these busy, impa- 
tient days. They do not appear to have been 
rough drafts, but copies, carefully made of the 
originals. AVe can only wonder and be thankful. 

In 1739, then, we find Miss Eliza Lucas, then 
sixteen years old, established in Carolina, 
with plenty of business to fill her time, but 
lamenting " my papa's return to Antigua," and 
quite unable to keep from fretting over the 
incessant expeditions on which his Majesty's 
forces were engaged. The place at which 
the Lucas family lived was in St. Andrew's 
parish on the west side of the Ashley River ; 
but their plantation was not upon the river 
itself, but upon the Wappoo, a salt creek con- 
necting the Ashley with the Stono, and only 
separated from the ocean by the long, sandy 
islands, James and Johns, which were to gain 
notoriety in far distant days. 

It was at the junction of this creek with the 
Ashley, that the first governor, Sayle, had 
pitched his camp in 1670, calling the place 
" Albemarle Point." It is marked as liis head- 
quarters, upon an old plat in the Shaftesbury 



FIRST YEARS IN CAROLINA 

Papers, but the first town (Old Town) was 
some miles higher up the river. The Lucas 
place was nearer to the Stono. Miss Lucas, 
writing to Mrs. Boddicott, says : — 

Dear Madam, — I flatter myself it will be a 
satisfaction to you to hear I like this part of the 
world as my lott has fallen here, which I really 
do. I prefer England to it 'tis true, but think 
Carolina greatly preferable to the West Indies, and 
was my Papa here I should be very happy. We 
have a very good acquaintance from whom we have 
received much friendship and Civility. Charles 
Town the principal one in this province is a polite 
agreeable place, the people live very Gentile and 
very much in the English taste. The Country is 
in general fertile and abounds with Yenson and 
wild fowl. The Venson is much higher flavoured 
than in England but 'tis seldom fatt. 

My Papa and Mama's great indulgence to mee 
leaves it to mee to chuse our place of residence 
either in town or country, but I think it more 
prudent as well as most agreeable to my Mama 
and selfe to be in the Country during my father's 
absence. Wee are 17 mile by land, and 6 by water 
from Charles Town where wee have about 6 agree- 
able families around us with whom wee live in 
great harmony. I have a little library well fur- 
nished (for my Papa has left mee most of his books) 
in w*^.'? I spend part of my time. My Musick and 
the Garden w'^- I am very fond of take up the rest 
5 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

that is not imployed in business, of w*^- my father 
has left mee a pretty good share, and indeed 'twas 
unavoidable, as my Mama's bad state of health 
prevents her going thro' any fatigue. 

I have the business of o plantations to transact, 
w'^'' requires much writing and more business and 
fatigue of other sorts than you can imagine, but least 
you should imagine it too burthensom to a girl 
at my early time of life, give mee leave to assure 
you I think myself happy that I can be useful to 
so good a father. By rising very early I find I can 
go through with much business, but least you 
should think I shall be quite moaped with this 
w^ay of life, I am to inform you there is two 
worthy Ladies in C-? Town, Mrs Pinckney and 
Mrs Oleland who are partial enough to mee to wish 
to have mee with them, and insist upon my making 
their houses my home wlien in Town, and press 
mee to relax a little much oftener than 'tis in my 
power to accept of their obliging intreaties, but I 
am sometimes with one or the other for three 
weeks or a monthe at a time, and then enjoy all 
the pleasures C- Town affords. But nothing gives 
mee more than subscribing myself 
Dr. Madam 
Yf. most affectionet and 
Pray remember me in most obliged hum^-^ Ser -* 
the best manner to my Eliza. Lucas 

worthy friend M F. Boddicott. 
To my good friend Mrs Boddicott 

May ye 2°^^. [probably 1740] 



FIRST YEARS IN CAROLINA 

Her planting was no holiday business. The 
intelligent, unaifectcd love of agriculture and 
experiment which marked her through life had 
already appeared, and she was busy in finding 
out what would best suit the soil and climate of 
the new Colony (it had hardly yet exceeded 
the life of man) in which she found herself. 
In July of 1739 occur the following memo- 
randa, — the first that we have, but she men- 
tions on the next page that she has just finished 
" a coppy book of letters to my Papa," so that 
when her first planting was made we do not 
exactly know. 

'^I wrote my father a very long letter on his 
plantation affairs ... on the pains I had taken 
to bring the Indigo, Ginger, Cotton, Lucern, and 
Cassada to perfection, and had greater hopes from 
the Indigo — if I could have the seed earlier the 
next year from the East Indies, — than any of ye 
rest of y.? things I had tryd, . . . also concern- 
ing pitch and tarr and lime and other i)lantation 
affairs.'' 

The object of these experiments was to find 
some crops which miglit be profitably raised on 
the high land in Carolina, and furnish a staple 
for export. At that time, rice, grown only where 
inland swamps could be conveniently watered 
from an embanked " reserve," was the sole agri- 
7 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

cultural commodity. The other exports were 
lumber, skins, and naval stores. It was a singu- 
lar question to engage the attention of a girl 
of sixteen, and probably, at first, when trying 
her plots of indigo, ginger, etc., she did not 
dream of the change which she would effect in 
the agriculture of her Province. 

She kept her object steadily in view, however, 
its importance growing upon her as she pro- 
ceeded, and the hopes, disappointments, and 
mistakes, incident to every new enterprise, now 
run through the letters of years. By 1742 she 
was so well satisfied that indigo could be profit- 
ably grown, that Governor Lucas sent her an 
overseer, from the West Indies, to superintend 
the difficult processes of harvest and prepara- 
tion for market. His daughter writes : — 

HoN^ Sir. — Never were letters more welcome 
than yours of feb>: 19"} & 20"}, and March ye 10!^ 
and 23'".^, which came almost together, it was near 6 
months since we had the pleasure of a line from 
you; our fears increased apace, and we dreaded 
some fatal accident befallen; but learning of yf. re- 
covery from a dangerous Fitt of Illness has, more 
than equal 'd, great as it was, our former anxiety. 
ISTor shall we ever think ourselves sufficiently 
thankful to Almighty God, for the continuance of 
so great a blessing. I simpathize most sincerely 
with ye Inhabitance of Antigua in so great a 
8 



FIRST YEARS IN CAROLINA 

calamity as the scarcity of provisions, and the 
want of ye Necessary s of life to ye poorer sort. 
We shall send all we can get of provisions, I wrote 
this day to Starrat for a bar! of butter. 

The Cotton, Guiney corn and most of the Ginger 
planted here was cutt off by a frost. 

I wrote you in former letter we had a fine crop 
of Indigo Seed upon the ground and since informed 
you the frost took it before it was dry. I picked 
out the best of it and had it planted but there is 
not more than a hundred bushes of it come up, 
w''^ proves the more unlucky as you have sent a 
man to make it. I make no doubt Indigo w^ill 
prove a very valueable commodity in time, if we 
could have the seed from the east Indies time enough 
to plant the latter end of March, that the seed 
might be dry enough to gather before our frost. I 
am sorry we lost this season we can do nothing 
towards it now but make the works ready for next 
year. The Lucern is yet but dwindling, but M- 
Hunt tells mee 'tis always so here the first year. 

The death of my Grandmama was as you imag- 
ine very shocking and grievous to my Mama, but I 
hope the consideration of the miserys that attend 
so advanced an age will help time to wear it off. 
I am very much obliged to you for the present you 
were so good to send me of the fifty pound bill 
of Exchange w^.^ I duely received. AVe hear Car- 
thagene is taken. M^ Wallis is dead. Captain 
Norberry was lately killed in a duel by Cap^ 
Dobinure, whose life is dispaired of by the wounds 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

he received, he is much blamed for quarreling with 
such a brawling man as Norberry who was disre- 
garded by every body. Norberrj^ has left a wife 
and 3 or 4 children in very bad circumstances to 
lament his rashness. Mama tenders you her affec- 
tions and polly joyns in duty with 
My Dear Papa 

Your ob- and ever Devoted Daughter 

E Lucas 

To supply the demand for provisions in Anti- 
gua, she immediately wrote to the overseers at 
the different plantations : — 

^'Nov!-.. 1741 Wrote to Mr Murry to send 
down a boat load of white oaV staves, bacon and 
salted beef for the West Indias. Sent up at the 
same time salt, salt peter and brown sugar for the 
bacon, and a couple of bottles of wine for Mrs 
Murry, and desire he will send down all ye butter 
and hog's lard." 

And soon after : — 

" Sent my father his kettledrums, informed him 
of Mr Smith's selling yf rumm he sent us, and 
giving awa}^ y^ preserved sorrel, tho he assurd us 
'twas by mistake put on board a vessel going to 
Barbadoes and carried there. Sad wretch ! Pay^ 
the compt^ of all his friends who treat us wdth great 
kindness and civility. Sent for West India Con- 
cumber seed. 

" Wrote by the return of the vessel, 2 bar^^ Rice, 
10 



FIRST YEARS IN CAROLINA 

do Corn, 3 do pease, and pickled pork, 2 keggs 
Oysters, one, of Eggs by way of Experiment putt up 
in salt. In case they answer my scheme is to sup- 
ply my father's refining house iu Antigua with 
Eggs from Carolina." 

This very practical and managing young 
lady is said to have been remarkably gentle 
and feminine in manner. By her father's de- 
sire she spent but little time at her needle, then 
the fashionable employment for ladies. Colonel 
Lucas had a strong prejudice against the elab- 
orate embroideries and lace work which we 
still admire, declaring ungallantly that he 
"never saw ladies talking over their work 
without suspecting that they were hatching 
mischief"! His daughter obediently chose 
other occupations, yet she was girlish enough 
in many ways ; especially when expressing 
her terrors on her father's account. She tries 
to be '' patriotick," but cannot conceal her 
fears, as when she writes to a friend, Miss 
Bartlett, in Charles Town : — 

^^I hear the Rye man of Warr is arrived, do 
they say whether the War is likely to continue or 
not, I was going to say I wish all the men were as 
great cowards as m3^self, it would make them more 
peaceably inclined. Now could I morralize for 
Iialf an hour on the wickedness and folly of "Warr 
and Bloodshed but my letter is of a convenient 
length. . . .'' 11 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

Soon she became uneasy about her brother 
as well as her father. The t\yo boys were in 
England with Mrs. Boddicott, and she wrote to 
them constantly. The younger, "Tommy," 
was in bad health, the elder, George, looking 
forward to entering the army. Their sister 
was much concerned about them, and there 
are frequent notes, — 

<^May 2^. 1741 AVrote to my brother now 16 
years old, desireing him to give us an ace!, of pub- 
lick News, anything that passes worth Notice, and 
informed of the amiable character we lately rec'' of 
him from good Mrs Boddicott " 

'^Ocf 22''"'^ Wrote to my brother George, desire- 
ing him to corrispond with mee in frencli, '^ etc etc 

and many messages and notes to the ill boy. 

George at last received his commission, and 
went to Antigua. Then the anxious sister writes 
to him in concern and alarm about the expedi- 
tions on which he is liable to be sent. These 
" expeditions " were a part of tlic long naval war 
between England and Spain, to which it seemed 
there would be no end. " There is always war 
with the Spaniard beyond the Line," says the 
bold Magnus Troil, in The Pirate, and on this 
side of the Line the same thing might have 
been said. Beginning in tlic previous century 
in the depredations of those extraordinary 

12 



FIRST YEARS IN CAROLINA 

rovers, the buccaneers, and continued by the 
scarcely less dreaded guarda-costas, the sea 
police established by Spain to control the buc- 
caneers, but who made themselves extremely 
troublesome to the English traders also, —tit 
had, now that the buccaneers and guarda- 
costas were things of tlie past, resolved itself 
into a struggle for commercial supremacy be- 
tween England and Spain, among the West 
India Islands, and the shores of South America. 
The trade was of great importance, and neither 
country could afford to lose it; but to the 
North American colonies the war was a con- 
stant trouble, interfering with their commerce 
and prosperity in every way. 

Since the resumption of hostilities in 1739, 
there had been an endless series of expeditions, 
naval fights, etc. ; but with the exception of 
the capture of Porto-Bello by Admiral Yernon, 
which had raised British enthusiasm to an 
extraordinary point, the operations were gen- 
erally ill-concerted and ineffectual. As Colonel 
Lucas was engaged in several of these affairs, 
the allusions to them are frequent. 

174.0 
To my Father:— '^"^ 

I am at a loss where to write to my Dear and 
Honoured Father, but am determined not to omit 
the pleasing duty, while I am able to perform it. 
13 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

I shall therefore send this to my brother to for- 
ward it to yon, possibly the expedition may be 
over, and you return'^^ in safety. Happy indeed 
shall I be when this grateful news reaches us . . . 

Tlie crop at Garden Hill turned out ill, but a 
hundred and sixty bar!? [of rice] and at Wappoo 
only forty-three, the price is so low as thirty 
shillings pi", hundred, we have sent very little to 
town yet, for that reason. People difer very much 
in sentiment about the number of ships we are 
still to have. We have not heard from England 
for more than two months, what can keep the ship- 
ping? We conjecture 'tis an imbargo. In my 
letter of Feb?: 3':'^ I desired to know if you aproved 
of setting a plantation to the North near Major 
Pawly. Please let me know in your next if it has 
your approbation and it shall be done in the Fall. 

We expect a vizit from the Spainiards this sum- 
mer. Mr Oglethorpe harasses them much at their 
forts at S* Augustine. He has lately killed some 
and took two prisoners. 

The foregoing letter was evidently written 
while Governor Lucas was absent at Lagnayra. 
By "the shipping," his daughter means the 
fleet of merchant vessels wdiich under convoy 
carried the rice to England. The familiar use, 
by the way, of the so-called Americanism, 
" Fall," may be noticed ; it flows too trippingly 
from her pen to have been a lately learned 

14 



FIRST YEARS IN CAROLINA 

expression. The attack on Laguayra failed, 
and then the affectionate daughter had both 
terror and mortification to undergo : " SeptT 15*1' 
1743, wrote to my father a very long letter 
informing him I had received his, relating the 
whole of that unfortunate and ill-concerted 
expedition at Laguira." And again: " acknowl- 
edged the receipt of his letter at Port Cavalla, 
with the papers of all the transactions there 
and at Laguira enclosed." 

She was evidently much distressed and sought 
to console herself as best she might with paral- 
lels from history. Her friends Mr. and Mrs. 
Pinckney, scolded her — in all kindness — 
for her rebellious grief, and she wrote the 
following letter : — 

To 3Irs Pinckney. 

DF Madam, — If you are not yet provided I 
have heard of a horse I believe will suit you at 
£140 [presumably in currency], and shall be glad 
of yr commands if I can be anj^ways serviceable 
therein, the owners are no further from me than 
James Island. 

Please to make my Complf. to Col. Pinckney, the 
book he lent mee I now return with thanks. I 
mett with a paragraph in it w*^.^ gave me a good 
deal of pleasure because 'tis exactly similar to my 
papa's Case at Cavalla, 'tis in a letter from Prince 
Eugene to an Eminent Minister in vindication of 
15 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

my Lord Albermarrs conduct at tlie battle of Denain, 
the words w*^.^ I raean are these ^^Biit when they — 
(the soldiers) — run as soon as they have given 
one fire and cannot be rallied, no Gen., in the 
world can help it " 

This declaration from so great a GenK as Prince 
Eugene must have great weight had it been read 
by a less partial eye than that of a daughter. I 
have had too many Instances of your friendship to 
doubt your pardon for this impertinence. . . 
Dr. Madam 

y affect and obed?. Serv.* 

E. Lucas. 



IB 



II 

MANNERS AND CUSTOMS 
1741-1743 

The following letters show so much of the 
life and character of the writer that they are 
given with only the necessary explanations. 
The first was written to her brother George 
before he left England : — 

I am now set down my Dear Brother to obey your 
commands and give you a short discription of the 
part of the world I now inhabit. So. Carolina 
then, is a large and Extensive Country near the 
Sea. Most of the settled parts of it is upon a flatt — 
the soil near Charles Town Sandy, but fartlier dis- 
tant clay and swamp land. It abounds with fine 
navigable rivers, and great quantities of fine tim- 
ber. The country at great distance, that is to say 
about a hundred or a hundred and fifty miles from 
C^- Town very hilly. The soil in general very 
fertile, and there is very few European or American 
fruits or grain but what grow here. The Country 
abounds with wild fowl. Venison and fish, Beef, 
veal and mutton, are here in much greater perfec- 
tion tlian in the Islands, the' not equal to that in 
2 17 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

England — but their pork exceeds any I ever 
tasted anywhere. The Turkeys extreamly fine, 
especially the wild, and indeed all their poultry is 
exceeding good, and peaches, Nectrins, and mellons 
of all sorts extreamly fine and in profusion, and 
their Oranges exceed any T ever tasted in the West 
Indies or from Spain or Portugal. 

The people in geii^ hospitable and honest, and 
the better sort add to these a polite gentile behav- 
iour. The poorer sort are the most indolent people 
in the world or they could never be wretched in so 
plentiful a country as this. The winters here are 
very fine and pleasant, but 4 months in the year is 
extreamly disagreeable, excessive liott, much thun- 
der and lightening and muskatoes and sand flies in 
abundance. 

C^ Town the Metropolis is a neat pretty place. 
The inhabitants polite and live in a very gentile 
manner. The streets and houses regularly built — 
the ladies and gentlemen gay in their dress, upon 
the whole you will find as many agreeable people of 
both sexes for the size of the place as almost any 
where. St Phillips church in C""- Town is a very 
elegant one, and much frequented. There are 
several more places of publick worship in this 
town, and the generallity of people of a religious 
turn of mind — 

I began in haste and have observed no method or 

I should have told you before I came to summer, 

that we have a most charming spring in this 

country, es]3ecially for those who travel through 

18 



MANNERS AND CUSTOMS 

the country, for the scent of the young niirtlc and 
the yellow Jesaniin with wf^ the woods abound, is 
delightful. 

The staple comodity here is rice, and the only 
thing they export to Euroj^e — beef, pork and lum- 
ber, they send to the west Indias. 

Pray inform me how my good friend M" Boddi- 
cott, my cousen Bartholomew and all my old 
acquaintance doe. My Mama and Bolly joyn in 
Love to you with 

My dear brother 

Yours most affectionately 

E Lucas 

The society was gay ; and even the war some- 
times brought an added gayety in the presence 
of some gallant sailors, as wdien the Jamaica 
fleet came in with " I am told fifty officers." 
The fleet danced and amused itself of course, 
although one of its duties may have been to 
avenge the act told in the following memo- 
randum : — 

^' Wrote to my Father an account of a large ship, 
the ' Balticke Merchant, ' from hence, being taken 
and carried into S- Sebastien. The Cap-, a Quaker, 
would not fight, — poor Col- Braithwait undertook 
to fight the ship, they had not powder enough — the 
Spaniards boarded her, and upon inquiring and 
being told Col^ B fought the ship, he went in to 
the Cabbin where he found him comforting his wife 
19 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

who was greatly friglited, and shot him dead in 
her sight — but as soon as he arrived at S- Sehas- 
tien's the Gov- of that place hanged him. Ac- 
knowledgd the Ee*^' of things sent by my father 
to ns in sev^ vessels lately, Ac^ of M- Whitfield 
and the Ecclesiastical Court here. Ac* of my 
cousen Ea^^weathers going to Boston to endeavour 
to recover her fortune. Old M- Deveaux, very kind 
in Instructing me in j-ilanting affairs — Shall En- 
deavour to get some Curiositys for the Duke of 
Marlborough.'^ 

The fleet was in time for the birthnight ball. 

Nov?: 11 1742 
To my Father. 

HoxD Sir, — Since my last the fleet is returnct 
to Jamaica; their orders were such tliat if the 
Spainards were gone and we under no apprehen- 
sions of their returning, to return to Jamaica with 
the whole detachment. Tlie}^ were very desireous 
to stay longer, and the Carolinians as desireous to 
have them stay. They were very well received 
here, and took great pleasure in acknowledging it 
upon all occations. The}^ are quite enamourd with 
Carolina, nor is it to be wonderd at after coming 
from Jamaica a place of w*^-^ they give a most horri- 
ble character. The character they give of the 
women there must I think be exaggerated, and 
therefore I wont enlarge on that head. 

The Gov- gave the Gent° a yqyj gentile enter- 
tainment at noon, and a ball at night for the 

20 



MANNERS AND CUSTOMS 

ladies on the Kings birthnight, at w*^^ was a 
Crowded Audience of Gent" and ladies. I danced 
a minuet with y*" old acquaintance Cap* Brodrick 
who was extreanilj^ glad to see one so nearly re- 
lated to his old friend. I promissd to pay his 
comp'- to 3^ou, and asure you how extreamly glad 
he would be to see you. A M^ Small (a very talk- 
ative man), desires his best respects, and says 
many obliging things of you, for w*^-' I think my- 
self obliged to him, and therefore punishd myself 
to hear a great deal of flashy nonsense from him 
for an hour together 

I am Dear Sir 
Your most obed and ever Dutiful Daughter 

E Lucas 

Tlie ecclesiastical trial referred to in the 
foregoing memorandani was a curious incident 
in the religious life of the time. For many 
years the different denominations in Charles 
Town had lived together in peace and amity. 
Some early attempts at oppression on the part 
of the Established Church had been put down 
very decidedly by the Lords Proprietors, and 
although the '' church " had privileges and 
protection, the '' dissenters " had equal political 
rights, and, both keeping within their own 
lines, were kind and friendly. 

But then came the Rev. George Whitfield, 
an ordained minister of the Church of England, 

2] 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

but, with the Wcslcys, a foiiiicler of Methodism. 
He had been invited to come to Georgia by 
General Oglethorpe, especially to evangelize 
the Indians and the negroes. His fervent 
preaching had excited much enthusiasm, and 
was supposed to do much good. Then he came 
to Carolina. Whitfield had undoubtedly a ge- 
nius for preaching, and an earnest, fiery faith. 
If there was no church he would preach in a 
" meeting house " ; or if the church was too 
small he would mount a stump or a cart and 
preach in the open air. Hundreds flocked to 
hear him and declared themselves " converted." 

All this however was repugnant to every 
principle of the Rev. Commissary Garden. 
Commissary Garden was the gentleman sent 
out by the Bishop of London to have ecclesias- 
tical authority and jurisdiction " within the 
provinces of North and Soutli Carolina, Georgia, 
and New Providence." He was charged to 
" watch not only over the morals of the clergy, 
but to enforce their observance of the rules 
and forms prescribed by the Church." 

These rules Whitfield was openly breaking. 
When the people had no prayer-books, and 
could not read, he used extemporaneous prayers 
that went to tlieir hearts, and accepted tears 
and groans in lieu of the responses set down 
in the book. lie preferred a large congre- 



MANNERS AND CUSTOMS 

gation by tlio wayside to a small one in a 
church, even with a cross over the door and 
the royal arms above the pulpit. 

One man was a formalist, the other an en- 
thusiast. Naturally they clashed, and Whit- 
field was summoned to appear before an 
" Ecclesiastical Court." He was allowed an 
advocate, his cause being pleaded by Andrew 
Kutledge (the first of the name to come to 
Carolina) ; the commissary's prosecutor was 
Richard Greene. Of course the case was pre- 
judged. There could be no denial of the fact 
that the acts were uncanonical, and Whitfield 
still called himself a Churchman. 

This clinging to the name was perhaps his 
mistake. The only thing to be done was to 
question the authority of Garden's court. Tlie 
authority was sustained, and, after the usual 
appeals, Whitfield was "for his excesses and 
faults . . . suspended from his office . . . 
denounced, declared and published openly and 
publicly in the face of the church." 

The sentence only aided the growth of Metho- 
dism. Good Dr. Garden, doing his duty ac- 
cording to his lights, little thought that he 
was widening the breach already begun. 

The affair, taking place in the small com- 
munity of Charles Town, was of course of im- 
mense interest and excitement there. Miss 

23 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

Lucas was a faithful, though not a narrow 
Church woman, and a friend of the commissary, 
whose large school for the negroes, where great 
numhers of them were taught Christianity, ap- 
pealed especially to her. Pier sympathy was 
probably with him. 

It is pleasant to know that these contentions 
left so little bitterness behind them that some 
years later the Surveyor, de Brahm, after enu- 
merating nine different sects in the town of 
twelve thousand inhabitants, said, " Yet are 
[they] far from being incouraged, or even in- 
clined to that disorder which is so common 
among men of contrary religious sentiments 
in other parts of the world ... of this city 
and Province, whoose inhabitants was from 
the beginning rcnound for concord, compleas- 
ance, courteousncss and tenderness towards 
each other, and more so towards foreigners, 
without regard or rcs[)ect of nature and 
religion." 

A pleasing ending of the whole matter ! 

It is hard at this late day to realize the 
inconveniences of daily life then caused by 
the distance from and the slow communication 
with the centres of civilization. The old phrase 
" taking Time by the forelock " acquires great 
force, as we find that if Miss Lucas has the 
lieadache, — by description neuralgia, — she 

24 



MANNERS AND CUSTOMS 

has to write an account of her symptoms to 
Mrs. Uoddicott in November, and sends a most 
grateful letter to her, and to " good D- Mead," 
because by their promptness " the meddicines 
will arrive by May, and 'tis alhvays worse in 
hott weather." Think of waiting six months 
for a dose of medicine ! 

Everything manufactured was imported, from 
a " four-wheel post chaise " to materials for 
"japanning a tea-caddy," tlie fashionable fad 
of the day. The great importance attached 
to the most" triffling" possessions of this kind, 
compared with the abundant comfort in other 
respects, is shown in mony odd little ways. 
In a contemporaneous letter from another Co- 
lonial lady, to her little son at school in Charles 
Town, — the little son who was, years after- 
wards, to be the husband of Mrs. Pinckney's 
daughter, — she says, — • 

'^I send you by the boat [their own schooner 
carrying rice to market] a barrel of hams, w':^ please 
present to y- worthy master, and a baskett of pairs 
for y'self and yl schoolfellows, and praie my Dr 
Dan!, return the baskett, ^tis of Englisli make, & 
I cannot get another in y?. colony.'' 

In the first letter from Miss Lucas given in 
this vuhune, she mentions two kind friends, 
Mrs. Cleland and ^Irs. Pinckney, who always 

25 



ELIZii PINCKNEY 

welcomed her to their houses. With the latter 
she became very intimate. She was the wife 
of Colonel Charles Pinckney, a planter and 
lawyer in high practice. She had no children, 
and soon grew very fond of the young ghd, 
and she and her niece, Miss Bartlett, then 
living with her, vied with each other in their 
attentions. 

Colonel Finckney also became '• very partial '^ 
to her, and by lending books and discussing 
worthy subjects, kept alive the taste for liter- 
ature already formed. The Pinckneys lived, 
either in Charles Town, or at their country 
seat, Belmont, about five miles from the town, 
on the Cooper River ; the correspondence with 
Wappoo seems to have been frequent. 

It is not easy to arrange these letters accord- 
ing to date ; sometimes there is no date at all, 
sometimes only the day of the week or of the 
month is given. They were sent by messenger, 
and none was needed. They have, however, 
been arranged as nearly as possible in their 
chronological order, and the following seems 
to be one of the first : — 

Janr 14t!}, 1741 2. 

Dear Miss BapvTlett, — 'Tis wiili pleasure 

I commence a Correspondance w*^.l' you promise to 

continue tho' I fear I shall often want matter to 

soport an Epistolary Interecourse in this solatary 

2G 



MANNERS AND CUSTOMS 

retirement — ; however you shall see my inclina- 
tion, for rather than not scribble, you shall know 
both my waking and sleeping dreams, as well as 
how the spring comes on, when the trees bud, and 
inanimate nature grows gay to chear the rational 
mind with delight; and devout gratitude to the 
great Author of all ; when my little darling, that 
sweet harmonist the mocking bird, begins to sing. 
You asked me a question when I was in town, I 
could not then resolve you, viz% what letter began 
the Tenor Cliff. 1 have since informed myself as 
follows . . , 

Our best respects wait on Col! Pinckney and 
lady, and believe me to be dear Miss Bartlett 
Your most obed' Serv' 

E Lucas 

She had a passion for music, — a great re- 
source in a country life ; and in one letter to 
her father, wedged in between promises to send 
all '' the preserved fruits as they come in sea- 
son," thanks for " twenty pistols," — referring 
not to firearms, but to the current gold coin of 
Spain, — and arguments on the advantage of 
" selling all the cows })elouging to the Wappoo 
Estate," slie bogs " the favour to send to 
Phigland for Cantatas, Weldcn's Anthems, 
Knolly's rules for tuning." 

Her country neighbors thought she over- 
worked herself, and she writes : — ■ 

27 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

Dear Miss Bautlett, — An old lady in our 
Neighbourliood is often querreling Ayith me for 
rising so early as 5 o'Clock in the morning, and 
is in great pain for me least it should spoil my 
marriage, for she says it will make me look old 
long before I am so; in this however I believe she 
is mistaking, for wdiat ever contributes to health 
and pleasure of mind must also contribute to good 
looks; but admiting Avhat she says, I reason with 
her thus. If I should look older by this practise, 
T really am so; for the longer time we are awake 
the longer we live, sleep is so much the Emblem of 
death, that I think it may be rather called breath- 
ing than living, thus then I have the advantage of 
the sleepers in point of long life, so I beg you will 
not be frighted by such sort of apprehensions as 
those suggested above and for fear of y': pretty face 
give up yl" late pious resolution of early rising. 

M}^ Mama joins with me in comp*.* to M- and M'-^ 
Pinckney. I send herewitJi CoU Tinckney's books, 
and shall be much obliged to him for Virgil's works, 
notwithstanding this same old Gentlewoman, (who 
I think too has a great friendship for me) has a 
great spite at my books, and had like to have thrown 
a vol"' of my Plutarcks lives in to the fire the other 
da}^, she is sadly afraid she says I shall read myself 
mad and bogs most seriously I will never read 
father Malbrouch, with this request I believe I 
shall comply, for 'tis very probable I never may. 

A letter I received j^esterday from my dear papa, 
says their last news from England, w^as that the 



MANNERS AND CUSTOMS 

Czarina of Moscovy was dethroned and princess 
Elizabeth daugliter of Peter the great has got the 
crown through the councils and interest of the 
frcncli court 

Iler friends were always anxious for her 
company, but she was conscientious and did 
not leave her duties too often. 

To the Honour ahle C. Plnckney Esq. 

Febr Q^^ 1741 

Sir, — I received yesterday the favour of yoMic 
advice as a phisician and want no arguments to con- 
vince me I should be much better for both my good 
friends company, a much pleasanter PrescrijDtion 
3'ours is, I am sure, than Doc- Mead's w'^!^ I Iiave 
just received. To follow my inclination at this 
time, I must endeavour to forget I have a Sister to 
instruct, and a parcel of little Negroes whom I 
have undertaken to teach to read, and instead of 
writing an answer bring it My self, and indeed 
gratitude as well as inclination obliges me to wait 
on M'"- Pinckney as soon as I can, but it will not 
be in my power till a month or two hence. Mama 
pays her comp^- to M-' Pinckney, and hopes she 
will excuse her waiting on her at this time, but 
will not fail to do it ver^^ soon. 

I am a very Dunce, for I have not acquired y® 
writing short hand yet with any degree of swift- 
ness — but I am not always one for I give a very 
good proof of the brightness of my Genius when I 
29 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

can distinguish well enough to subscribe my self 
with great esteem 

Sir 
Your most obe*^ humble Serv- 

Eliza Lucas. 

Miss Bartlett insists on knowing why she is 
so busy in the country, and she answers, — 

^' Why my dear Miss Bartlett, will you so often 
repeat y- desire to know how I trifle away my time 
in our retirement in my father's absence; could it 
afford you advantage or pleasure *I w^ould not liave 
hesitated, but as you can expect neither from it I 
would have been excused; however, to show j^ou my 
readiness in obeying y*^ commands, here it is. 

" In gen^ then I rise at five o'Clock in the morning, 
read till seven — then take a walk in the garden or 
fields, see that the Servants are at their respective 
business, then to breakfast. The first liour after 
breakfast is spent in musick, the next is constantly 
employed in recolecting something I have learned, 
least for want of practise it should be quite lost, 
such as french and short hand. After that, I devote 
the rest of the time till I dress for dinner, to our little 
polly, and two black girls who I teach to read, and 
if I have m}^ papa's approbation (my mama's I have 
got)I intend for school mistress's for the rest of the 
Negroe children. Another scheme you see, but to 
proceed, the first hour after dinner, as the first 
after breakfast, at musick, the rest of the afternoon 
30 



MANNERS AND CUSTOMS 

in needle work till candle liglifc, and from that 
time to bed time read or write; 'tis the fashion 
liere to carrj'- our work abroad with us so that hav- 
ing company, without tliey are great strangers, is 
no interruption to y- affair, but I have particular 
matters for particular da3's w''^^ is an interruption to 
mine. Mondays my musick Master is here. Tues- 
day my friend M'- Cliardon (about 3 miles distant) 
and I are constantly engaged to each other, she at 
our house one Tuesday I at hers the next, and this 
is one of y.1 happiest days I spend at Wappoo. 
Thursday the whole day except what the necessary 
affairs of the family take up, is spent in writing, 
either on the business of the plantations or on 
letters to my friends. Every other Friday, if no 
compan}^, we go a vizeting, so that I go abroad 
once a week and no oftener. 

"'Now you may form some judgment of what time 
I can have to work my laj^pets. I own I never go 
to them with a quite easy conscience as I know my 
father has an avertion to my emplo^nng my time 
in that poreing work, but they are begun, and must 
be finished. I hate to undertake an^'thing and not 
go thro' with it, but by way of relaxation from the 
other, I have begun a piece of work of a quicker 
sort, w*^-^ requires neither eyes nor genius, at least 
not very good ones, would you ever guess it to be 
a shrimp nett ? for so it is. 

" ! I had like to forgot the last thing I have done 
a great while. I have planted a large fi gg orchard, 
with design to dry them, and export them. I have 
31 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

reckond my expence and the prophets to arise from 
those iiggs, but was I to tell you how great an 
Estate I am to make this way, and how 'tis to be 
laid out, you would think me far gone in romance. 
Y'' good Uncle I know has long thought I have a 
fertile brain at schemeing, I only confirm him in 
his oppinion; but I own I love the vegitable world 
extreamly. I think it an innocent and useful 
amusement, and pray tell him if he laughs much 
at my projects, I never intend to have any hand in 
a silver mine, and he will understand as well as 
you, wdiat I mean ! Our best respects wait on him, 
and M*"- Pinckney 

^^ If my eyes dont descive me you in y"" last talk of 
coming very soon by water, to see how my oaks 
grow, is it really so, or only one of your unripe 
schemes. While 'tis in y'" head put it speedily 
into execution, and you will give great pleasure 
to. . . . " 

About this time (1741) occuiTcd a curious 
incident of which she writes to her father : — 

*^ Mem. March 11*1' 1741. Wrote a long letter 
to my father about the Indigo and all other plan- 
tation affairs, and that Mr H. B. had been very 
much deluded by his owne fancys and imagind he 
was assisted by the divine spirit to prophecy C- 
Town and the Country as farr as^'Pon-pon bridge 
[about twenty miles south of Charles Town] 
should be destroyed by fire and sword, to be exe- 
cuted by the Negroes before the first day of next 
32 



AMNNERS AND CUSTOMS 

nionthe. He came to town twice, — 60 mile — , 
besides sending twice to acquaint tlie GovT. with it, 
people in gen- were very uneasy, (tho' convincd 
he was no prophet,) but they dreaded the consi- 
qnences of such a thing being put in the head of 
tlie slaves, and the advantage they might take of 
us. 

'< From thence he went on, (as it was natural he 
should when he gave himself up to his own whims,) 
from one step to another, till he came to working 
miracles, and lived for several days in the woods 
barefooted and alone, but with his pen and ink to 
write down his prophecies, till at length he went 
with a wand to divide the waters, and predicted he 
should die that night. But upon linding both fail, 
the water continue as it was, and himself a living 
Instance of the flilicy of his own predictions, was 
convinced he was not guided by the infallible 
spirrit, but that of delusion, and sent a letter to the 
Speaker upon it, w'=?> I now inclose. 

''Shall send by Capt. Gregory if it can be got 
ready in time for him, the turpintine and neats foot 



This memorandum, with its homely jiimblin<^ 
of prophetic delusions and domestic detail, docs 
not express much alarm ; although Wappoo 
lies well within the district thus devoted to 
fire and sword, and the two ladies and little 
Polly, Eliza's sister, were there alone. To Miss 
Bartlett she writes of the same occurrence. 

3 33 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

^' Poor man ! With what anguish must he reflect 
on making the spirrit of God the Author of his 
weaknesses ... I hope he will be a warning to 
all pious minds not to reject reason and revelation 
and set up in their stead their own wild notions. 
He fancied indeed he was soported in his oppin- 
ions by the sacred oracles, and, (as a father of 
our Church observes) ^ so did all the preachers of 
herissy in the primitive church.' 

*'But why should we not expect to be deluded 
when we reject that assistance w*"- the bountiful 
Author of our Being has revealed to us. . . . 

''I can't conclude till I have told you I see the 
Comett Sir I. Newton foretold should appear in 
1741; and w*^.!' in his oppinion is that that will de- 
stroy the world, how long it may be travelling down 
to us he does not sa}^; but I think it does not con- 
cern us much, as our time of action is over at our 
death, the exact time of w*"- is uncertain; tho' we 
may reasonably expect it within the utmost limits 
mentioned by the Psalmist ..." 

The poor gentleman was probably mad. The 
remarks might apply to many visionaries of the 
present century. Of the comet she writes 
again in answer to some joking questions of 
her friend : — 

<^By your inquiry after the Comett I find your 
curiosity has not been strong enough to raise you 
out of your bed so much before y- usual time as 

34 



MANNERS AND CUSTOMS 

mine has been; but to answer your queries. The 
comett had the appearance of a very large Starr 
with a tail, and to my sight about 5 or 6 foot long, 
its real magnitude must be then prodigious, the 
tail was much paler than the comett itself, not 
unlike the milky way, 'twas about a fortnight ago 
that I saw it. 

<<The brightness of the Comett was too dazling 
for mee to give you the information you require. 
I could not see whether it had petticoats on or not, 
but I am inclined to think by its modest appearance 
so early in the morning it won't permit every idle 
gazer to behold its splendour, a favour it will only 
grant to such as take pains for it. From hence I 
conclude if I could have discovered any clothing 
it would have been the female garb; besides if it 
is an}'- mortal transformed to this glorious luminary, 
why not a woman ? 

''The light of the Comett to my unphilosophical 
Eyes seems to be natural and all its own; how 
much it may really borrow from the sun, I am not 
astronomer enough to tell." 

Next comes an invitation. What is meant 
by " Praetorship " is not known, — probably 
the Speakership of the House of Assembly, an 
office which Colonel Pinckney held for some 
years. To Miss Bartlett : — 

''I did not receive your letter in time or should 
certainly have come to town to hear the sermon, 
on a subject so new to mee, T am however much 

35 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

obliged to you for remembering mee on the occa- 
tion. I must beg leave to say the rest to Col. 
Pinckney. My thanks are due to you also Sir for 
yJ very obliging invitation to 3'.^ grand festival. 
Give me leave also to congratulate you on yP. Second 
Praetorship; a Gent"?, of y- convention informed 
me you was to be chosen for the ensuing year. I 
am with Mama's and my best respects. . . .'' 

On the whole they saw a good deal of society, 
and Miss Lucas evidently considered herself 
as having a pleasant life. She was besides 
singularly independent of society in the ordi- 
nary sense of tlie word. It was her great 
good fortune that besides a taste for music and 
literature, a true and genuine love of nature 
was always hers. In girlhood she was happy 
and content in the companionship of flowers, 
birds, and trees. Her pleasure, although ex- 
pressed in the formal phraseology of her time, 
is unaffected and sincere. She describes the 
birth-night ball in ten lines, but gives a page 
of foolscap to a cage of nestling mocking-birds 
fed by the old ones from without. In her old 
age she laments for the felling of trees as for 
the loss of friends. 

Happy they to whom nature is so dear ! 
She gives no wounds or scars, but keeps heart 
and mind fresh and green with her own un- 
dying youth. 

36 



Ill 

A COUNTRY NEIGHBORHOOD 
1742-1744 

The part of the country in which Colonel 
Lucas had left his family is, although of course 
perfectly flat, extremely pretty. Its position 
on a salt creek and sheltered from the north 
winds renders the climate peculiarly mild, so 
that at the present day when the chief pro- 
ductions are strawberries and vegetables, the 
farmers have a week or ten days' advantage 
over their neighbors, a few miles off on the 
Ashley, who suffer from the draught of the 
river. 

The trees here grow to a great size, the land 
is fertile, and all growth is vigorous and luxu- 
riant. A better place could hardly be found 
for an agricultural enthusiast, or for one who 
loved to plant and wait the growth of years. 
This letter to Miss Bartlett (one of many) shows 
Miss Lucas's pleasure in these pursuits : — 

Dear Miss Bartlett, — The contents of your 
last concerns us much as it informs us of the acci- 

37 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

dent to Col! Pinckney, I hope M"".^ Pinckne}^ dont 
apprehend any other danger from the fall than its 
spoiling him for a horseman; if it only prevents 
him riding that dancing beauty Chickasaw for 
the future, I think 'tis not much to be lamented, 
he has as many tricks and airs as a dancing 
bear. Wont you laugh at me if I tell you I am 
so busy in providing for Posterity I hardly allow 
myself time to Eat or sleep, and can but just snatch 
a minuet to write to you and a friend or two more. 

I am making a large plantation of oaks w^^" I 
look upon as my own property, whether my father 
gives me the land or not, and therefore I design 
many years hence when oaks are more valueable 
than they are now, ^v'^-' you know they will be 
when we come to build fleets, I intend I say, 2 
thirds of the produce of my oaks for a charrity, 
(I'll let you know my scheme another time) and 
the other 3'^ for those that shall have the trouble of 
puting my design in Execution; I sopose accord- 
ing to custom you will show this to y"" Uncle and 
Aunt. ^' She is good girl " says M'"^ Pinckney, " she 
is never Idle and always means well " — '' tell the 
little Visionary," says your Uncle, ^^come to town 
and partake of some of the amusements suitable to 
her time of life," pray tell him I think these so, 
and what he may now think, whims and projects may 
turn out well by and by — out of many surely one 
may hitt. 

I promised to tell you when the mocking bird 
began to sing, the little warbler has done wonders; 
38 



A COUNTRY NEIGHBORHOOD 

tlie first time he opend liis soft pipe this spring 
lie inspired me \vitli the spirrit of E-yraeing and 
produced the 3 following lines while I was laceing 
my Stays. 

Sing on thou charming mimick of the fcatherd kind 
And let the rational a les.son learn from thee 
To mimick (not defects) but harmony. 

If 3^011 let any mortal besides your self see this 
exquisite peice of poetry, you shall never have a 
line more than this specimen, and how great will 
be 3'^our loss you who have seen the above may 
judge as well as 

Your most obed- Serv- 

Eliza Lucas 

For near and kind neighbors she had Mr. 
Deveaux, a Huguenot gentleman, who is fre- 
quently mentioned as giving her good advice 
about her planting, and who assisted very ma- 
terially in bringing the indigo to perfection ; 
and two ladies who lived within easy walking 
distance. They were Mrs. Woodward and her 
daughter Mrs. Chardon, the latter being then 
the young widow of a Huguenot gentleman be- 
longing to a family now extinct. Miss Lucas 
loved her tenderly, and on the occasion of her 
being desperately ill, exclaims that the illness 
was brought on because, " being ever as good 
as woman could be, she would fain have been 
an angel before her time." Mrs. Chardon 

3<J 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

afterwards married the Rev. Dr. Hiitson of the 
Independent Church, and from her were de- 
scended several prominent persons. 

These ladies belonged to the family of the 
very first Englishman ever resident in Caro- 
lina (first Englishman^ for Ribault and his 
Frenchmen had spent some montlis at Port 
Royal a hundred years before). The curious 
story is told in the Shaftesbury Papers now 
owned by the City Council of Charleston. 

In 1665 the Lords Proprietors sent an expedi- 
tion to examine the coast of tlie very vaguely 
defined region, wliich had been granted to 
them by Charles II. Sir John Yeamans, whose 
name is always coming up in those early years, 
was in charge, but he sent in his stead Robert 
Sandford, who " represented the Lords Pro- 
prietors in tlie County of Clarendon on the Cape 
Fear." With him went Dr. Woodward, a " clii- 
rurgeon," and friend of the Earl of Shaftes- 
bury. These men explored the coast from the 
Cape Fear to Port Royal, and give a glowing 
account of the " fatt black soil " of Edistoh, etc. 

While in North Edistoh Inlet, there came 
down to them a friendly Indian who had 
been on the Cape Fear, called the Cassique of 
Kiawah. It sounds like a name of romance, 
but the Shaftesbury Papers vouch for him. 
This deluded savage was extremely anxious for 

40 



A COUNTRY NEIGHBORHOOD 

the white men to settle in his country, and to 
that end lie proposed to Sandford that one of 
his party should come on shore and remain 
with him, while his sister's son, a " propper 
young fellow," should sail away with the 
Englishman '' for the mutuale learning of the 
languages." 

Sandford and Dr. Woodward had already 
had some such plan, and the courageous " chi- 
rurgeon" was left alone, Sandford *' giving 
Woodward formall possession of the wdiole 
country to hold as Tennant att will of the 
Right Hono-^ the Lords Proprietors." It was 
of more consequence that the Cassique honor- 
ably fulfilled his part of the bargain, making 
his guest comfortable after the manner of his 
" nacon," and delivering him up in safety 
when Sayle arrived in 1670. Dr. Woodward 
was then of importance, and was cousidered the 
immediate representative of Shaftesbury. 

From the hero of this adventurous story, the 
husband of Miss Lucas's elder friend was de- 
scended. Of the lady herself she writes, " My 
valueable and w^orthy friend M Woodward who 
I know has as much tenderness for me as any 
woman in the world (my own good Mama 
hardly excepted), incourages me in every laud- 
able persuit." Besides these friends close at 
hand, she was, when she could be spared from 

41 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

home, within easy reach of the Ashley, where 
some of tlie first gentlemen of the Province, 
the Bulls, Bakers, Middletons, Draytons, etc., 
had already built themselves stately homes. 
Of one of them she writes to Colonel Pinckney, 

*^ You justly observe a completion of happiness 
is not attainable in this life, to w^-^ truth I readily 
subscribe at all times, but especially while the 
disapointment we have just mett with in seeing 
you and M""- Pinckney is recent. M^- Drayton (the 
bride) with whom we lately spent a festal day at 
the Lieu- Governour's, told us, 3^ou would this 
week vizet 3^- friends at Ashley River, but your 
last removes the pleasing prospect. I sliall how- 
ever make myself all the amends I can by waiting 
on Mrs Pinckney on Thursday next." 

Of all the beautiful homes built by the 
colonists along the left bank of the Ashley, 
Drayton Hall alone remains. All the rest 
went down in flames in 1865, This, kept to 
be used as a hospital by the Federal army, still 
stands, and has been restored to something of 
its former state. A little way back from the 
river, just far enough to allow of a wide lawn 
stretching to the bank, its broad front com- 
mands a lovely view of the winding stream. 

One would like to have had some details of 
the "festal day" spent there in 1743, but none 

42 



A COUNTRY NEIGHBORHOOD 

are given ; yet it would not be liard Avith the 
nieinoiy of many old tales to picture to one- 
self such a festivity. 

We know for instance that when ]\riss Lucas 
went to the feast, if she went by water, it was 
in a low boat, probably a long canoe, hollowed 
out of a mighty cypress thirty or forty feet 
long, with sitting room for half a dozen in bow 
and stern, and rowed by six or eight negroes, 
all singing in faultless time and cadence as 
they swung their paddles. In that case she 
landed at the foot of the lawn and walked 
across it to the house, demurely — following 
*' My Mama." The rivers were the highways 
then, and the people who came to church in 
Charles Town from the surrounding country 
came in canoes, — silently with quiet oars, as 
became the day. 

But St. Andrew's parish early boasted of its 
good road, the best, and perhaps the first, in the 
Province, for Old Town, the veritable first set- 
tlement, stood upon it. It ran from where the 
Wappoo and the Ashley join, as parallel with the 
river as its windings would permit, but keep- 
ing about half a mile from it, to where Bacon's 
Bridge crossed the narrowing stream at Dor- 
chester, where in 169G a colony from New 
England had settled. 

The avenues of the different places along 

43 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

the river led out to the road, thus giving to 
each house a land and a water front, and the 
church, lately enlarged to meet the needs of 
the growing and wealthy parish, stood cm- 
howered in oaks, beside it. This road was, 
and still is, beautiful ; overhung with stately 
trees under which bloom the bluest of violets 
and most golden of jessamines. Here and there 
a ruined gateway tells of what has been. 

In Miss Lucas's day there was no thought 
of ruins, and along this road the neighbors 
came joyously when summoned to dinner or 
to ball. They came, the gentlemen generally 
on horseback, riding their small spirited horses 
of the Chickasaw breed ; supposed to be de- 
scended from barbs left by the early Spanish 
discoverers, which, when modified by the blooded 
strain imported from England, made fine racers 
and hunters. The ladies came in chaises ; 
Mrs. Lucas had imported a four-wheeled post- 
chaise only the year before. Chaises cost 
seventy pounds to build then, besides the 
freight. 

On such an occasion as that referred to, a re- 
ception for the young bride who had just come 
from her own stately home of Middleton Place 
a few miles up the Ashley, the guests naturally 
wore all their braveries. Their dresses, bro- 
cade, taffety, lutestring, etc., were well drawn 

44 



A COUNTRY NEIGHBORHOOD 

np through their pocket holes. Their slip- 
pers, to match their dresses, had heels even 
higher and more unnatural than our own. 
Their cloalvs, cx})ansive to cover their enor- 
mous hoops, were much like the Mother Hub- 
bard cloaks worn a few years since. They 
were made of silk, satin, or cloth, lined and 
quilted, very full and set into small yokes. 
One that belonged to Mrs. Pinckney still ex- 
isted about forty years ago. It was of this 
shape, greenish gray in color, and of lute- 
string, a stuff between silk and satin, not un- 
like our surah. 

When we wear our grandmother's dresses 
now, for a fancy ball or a drawing-room play, 
we arrange them gracefully, with only a be- 
coming spread to the skirts, and we give our 
bodies room to breathe ; but the hoops or 
fartln'ngales of that day were really hideous, 
coming out straight from the waist and ex- 
tending the skirt like a barrel, or a pincushion 
doll. Their unhappy bodies were, w^e regret 
to state, laced out of all shape till they looked 
like pegs ; — as any one may sec in the old 
cuts in ''The Spectator," or in " Ikll's British 
Theatre," where Afrs. Gibber as Monimia, or 
^Irs. Abingdon as Isaljella, is a painful iigure. 
'T is true that in the back of the sacque, covered 
by the Watteau plait of the court train, there 

45 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

is a laced piece. By pulling a bobbin, instant 
relaxation may be obtained, but then how 
many hours must have passed when the bobbin 
could not be pulled ! 

Whether they came by land or by water we 
may be sure that the ladies were met by 
courteous bowing hosts, arrayed in powdered 
hair, square cut coats, long waistcoats, breeches, 
and buckled shoes. Wigs were going out then, 
elderly gentlemen, and clerical or legal dignita- 
ries wore them, but the " younger sort " tied 
their hair back with a ribbon and powdered 
it, — as Waverley and the Young Pretender did 
in " the '45." 

With bows and courtesies, and by the tips of 
their lingers, the ladies were led up the high 
stone steps to the wide hall, the beautiful hall 
looking out to the river, and then up the stair- 
case with its heavy carved balustrade to the 
panelled rooms above ; wainscoted in long 
narrow panels, and with high carved mantels, 
and deep window-seats. Then, the last touches 
put to the heads (too loftily piled Avith cushion, 
puffs, curls, and lappets, to admit of being 
covered with anything more than a veil or a 
hood), they joined the gay company, who had 
come perhaps from twenty miles around to do 
honor to the occasion. 

Gay would be the feast. The guests in that 

46 



r 



A COUNTRY NEIGHBORHOOD 

neighborhood, chiefly English by birth or de- 
scent, had the cheery ways of their race, and 
still show us in their pictures the broad brows 
and bluff cheeks of their ancestry. Miss Lucas 
has already told us something of what the 
country could furnish in the way of good cheer, 
and we may be sure that venison and turkey 
from the forest, ducks from the rice fields, and 
fish from the river at their doors, were there. 
The English style of cookery prevailed in pas- 
ties and rounds of beef, but modified by the 
country and its products. Turtle came from 
the West Indies with " saffron and negroe 
pepper, very delicate for dressing it." Rice 
and vegetables were in plenty, — terrapins in 
every pond, and Carolina hams proverbially 
fine. The desserts were custards and creams 
(at a wedding always bride cake, and float- 
ing island), jellies, syllabubs, puddings, and 
pastries. 

The old silver, damask, and India china still 
remaining, show how these feasts were set out ; 
with the " plateau " in the centre of the tal)le, of 
silver, glass, or china, the tall branching candle- 
sticks, the two handled loving cups (tankards 
they called them), the heavy salvers with Queen 
Anne borders, and a shield or crest in the 
middle. Plenty of spoons they had, and two- 
pronged forks, but silver ones were not, and 

47 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

wliat — what was the use of that rounded 
tip to the knives, silver handled and armorial 
crested though they were ? 

Those were not blue ribbon days. Our 
fathers washed down their dinners with copious 
draughts of good Madeira, '' East India " it was 
called ; the idea being that it must have made 
tlie India voyage, and have been well shaken 
up in a sailing vessel, and then left to rest at 
least a dozen years in a Carolina cypress 
shingled garret, before it arrived at perfec- 
tion. The writer remembers a letter (since de- 
stroyed) in which a fatlier, one of the sober 
Huguenot stock, wrote to his son on his 
marriage : " I send you a pipe of wine for 
immediate use, 'tis nearly your own age. By 
importing a pipe every year and storing in your 
garret, you will always have a bottle to offer 
your friends." They had port and claret too, 
especially when a French or Spanisli prize ship 
was taken, and for suppers a delicious punch 
called " shrub," compounded of rum, pine- 
apples, lemons, etc., not to be commended by 
a temperance society. 

The dinner over, the ladies withdrew, and 
before very long the scraping of the fiddlers 
would call the gentlemen to \\\q dance — pretty 
graceful dances, the minuet, stately and gra- 
cious, which opened the ball ; and the country 

48 



A COUNTRY NEIGHBORHOOD 

dance, forerunner of our Virginia Reel, in 
which every one old and young joined. 

Gay, joyous old days, enjoyed alike by master 
and man, by mistress and maid, when the 
feast begun in the hall was continued in the 
servants' quarters, and the negroes without 
took up the dance, and footed gayly in the 
piazzas and the lawn. All are gone now, but 
the memory of the old tales survives. 

It must have been after the distractions of 
an entertainment such as we have tried to 
reproduce, that Miss Lucas wrote to Mrs, 
Pinckney : — 

^^ I am afraid to trust mj^self at that agreeable 
Spott [Belmont] and y*^ Company I meet with 
there, lest it should make it too difficult for me to 
return at the time I ought to be at home. At my 
return hither every thing appeared gloomy and 
lonesome, I began to consider what attraction there 
was in this place that used so agreeably to soothe 
my pensive humour, and made me indifferent to 
every thing the ga}^ world could boast; but I 
found the change not in the place but in myself, 
and it doubtless proceeded from that giddy gay- 
ety, and want of reflection which I contracted 
when in town; and I was forced to consult Mr 
Locke over and over, to see wherein personal 
Identity consisted, and if I was the very same 
Selfe." 

4 49 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

Fortified by Mr. Locke she returns to her 
accustomed vocations, and writes to Miss 
Bai-tlett : — 

''I have got no further than the first vol- of 
Virgil, hut was most agreahly disapointed to fiud 
myself instructed in agriculture as well as enter- 
tained hy his charming penn, for I am persuaded 
'tho he wrote for Italy it will in many Instances 
suit Carolina. I had never perused those hooks 
before, and imagined I should immediately enter 
upon battles, storms and tempests, that put mee in 
a maze, and make mee shudder while I read. But 
the calm and pleasing diction of pastoral and gar- 
dening agreabl}^ presented themselves not unsuit- 
ably to this charming season of the year, with 
w^-^ I am so much delighted that had I butt the fine 
soft Language of our Poet to paint it properly, I 
should give you but little respite 'till you came 
into the country, and attended to the beauties of 
pure Nature unassisted by Art." 

Thoughtful and self-reliant by nature, the 
circumstances of this young lady's life and 
surrounding's increased these characteristics, 
and we find her, when urgently pressed to do 
so, giving her opinion with modest firmness, on 
the pleasures of society, and again planning to 
help her poorer neighbors in their business, 
and keep them and their little property out of 
the clutches of the law. The letter gives a 

50 



A COUNTRY^ NEIGHBORHOOD 

curious picture of the ways of the uneducated 
class, even so near to a town : — 

Dear !Mtss Bartlett, — After a pleasant 
passage of about an hour we arrived safe at home 
as I hope you and ^Irs. Pinckney did at Belmont; 
but this place appeared much less agreable than 
when I left it, having lost the company that then 
enlivened it, the Scene is indeed much changed, 
for instead of the Easy and agreeable conversation 
of our Friends, I am engaged with the rudiments 
of the Law, to w*:'' I am yett but a stranger, and 
what adds to my mortification I soon discovered 
that DoC" Wood [a law book] wants the considera- 
tion of y-'". good Uncle, who with a graceful ease 
and good nature peculiar to himself, is always 
ready to instruct the ignorant. But this rustic 
seems by no means to court my acquaintance for 
he often treats me with such cramp phrases, I am 
unable to understand him. 

However I hope in a short time with the help of 
Dictionary's french and English, we shall be better 
friends; nor shall I grudge a little pains and appli- 
cation, if that will make me useful to any of my 
poor Neighbours, w^e have Some in this Neighbour- 
hood, who have a little Land a few Slaves and Cat- 
tle to give their Children, that never think of mak- 
ing a will 'till they come upon a sick bed, and find 
it too Expensive to send to town for a Law^^er. 

If you will not laugh too immoderately at mee 
I'll Trust you with a Secrett. I have made two 

51 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

wills already! I know I have done no harm, for 
I con'd my lesson very perfect, and know how to 
convey by will. Estates, Real and Personal, and 
never forgett in its proper place, him and his heirs 
forever, nor that ^tis to be signed by three wit- 
nesses in presence of one anotlier; bnt the most 
comfortable remembrance of all is that Doctr. Wood 
says, the Law makes great allowance for Last Wills 
and Testaments, presuming the Testator could not 
have Council learned in the Law. But after all 
what can I do if a poor Creature lies a-dying, and 
their family takes it into their head that I can 
serve them. I can't refuse; butt when they are 
well, and able to employ a Lawyer, I always shall. 

A widow hereabouts with a pretty little fortune, 
teazed me intolerable to draw her a marriage set- 
tlement, but it was out of my depth and I abso- 
lutely refused it, so she got an abler hand to do it, 
indeed she could afford it, but T could not gett off 
from being one of the Trustees to her Settlement, 
and an old gentleman the other. 

I shall begin to think myself an old woman 
before I am well a young one, having these 
weighty affairs upon my hands. 

After this very grave and practical epistle, it 
is amusing to find one, containing a long criti- 
cism of Richardson's sentimental novel Pamela, 
written with about as much comprehension, 
and as acute discrimination, as moy be found 
in the letters of the nice girls of this day, 

52 



A COUNTRY NEIGHBORHOOD 

when they discuss The Heavenly Twins or The 
Yellow xister. 

The following letter, written to Miss Bartlett 
who had returned to England, describes one of 
the handsomest Colonial places " Crowfield," 
the seat of the Middleton family on Goose- 
creek, a branch of the Cooper River. This fine 
place has long been utterly destroyed. At the 
" Oaks," the other place mentioned, also belong- 
ing to the Middletons, the noble avenue, with 
double rows of stately trees, still remains ; the 
house was burned many years ago. 

To Miss Bartlett in London. 

I am determinM to extort a pardon from you 
for my breach of promise by accusing y*!. good Uncle 
and Aunt as the cause. You already know how 
happy I am in their friendship, and how much 
tliey study to make my Papa's absence easy to me 
by a thousand obliging ways, in consequence of 
this obliging disposition they lately contrived 
a most agreable tour to Goose creek, S'. John's, 
etc, to show those parts of the country in which 
are several very handsome Gentleman's seats, at all 
w*:^ we were entertain^, with the most friendly 
politeness. The first we arrived at was Mr Wra. 
Middletons, ''Crowfield," where we spent a most 
agreeable week. 

The house stands a mile from, but in sight of 
the road, and makes a very handsome appearance ; 
53 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

as you draw near it new beauties discover them- 
selves ; first tlie fruitful vine mantleing the wall, 
loaded with delicious clusters. Next a spacious 
Basin in the midst of a large Green presents itself 
as you enter the gate that leads to the House w^il' is 
neatly iinish'.l, the rooms well contrived and Ele- 
gantly furnish » . 

From the back door is a spacious walk a thousand 
feet long ; each side of w'^l' nearest the house is a 
grass plat ornamented in a Serpentine manner with 
Flowers ; next to that on the right hand is what 
imediately struck my rural taste, a thicket of 
young, tall live oaks where a variety of airey Chor- 
risters pour forth their melody, and my darling the 
mocking bird joyn'd in the artless Concert and 
inchanted me with his harmon3\ Opposite on the 
left hand is a large square boling green, sunk a 
little below the level of the rest of the garden, with 
a walk quite round composed of a double row of 
fine, large flowering Laurel and Catalpas w"} aford 
both shade and beauty. 

My letter will be of an unreasonable length if 
I don't pass over the Mounts, wilderness, etc, and 
come to the bottom of this charming spott where is 
a large iisli pond with a mount rising out of the 
middle the top of wh":'.* is level with the dwelling 
House, and upon it is a roman temple, on each side 
of this are other large fish ponds properly disposed 
whicli form a line Prospect of water from the 
bouse. 

Beyond this are the smiling fields dressed in 

54 



A COUNTRY NEIGHBORHOOD 

Vivid green; here Ceres aiul Pomona joyn hand in 
hand to crown the hospitable board. ... I am 
quite tired of writing as I sopose you are of read- 
ing and ca'nt say a word of the other seats I saw in 
tliis ramble, except the Counts large double row of 
Oaks, on each side the Avenue w*:!' leads to the 
House, and seems design*!, by Nature for pious 
meditation and friendly converse. 

I won't say a word of the conquest I made of the 
old Gent'" the Owner of this Mansion, not because 
I imagine you will think me vain, but because I 
know y- Uncle who is much pleased, will send you 
a full account. 

Meanwhile Govci-nor Lucas was thinking 
seriously of his daughter's '' settlement in life." 
In those days marriage generally was a very 
practical affair ; not quite so bad as in France ; 
but still the plirase, " a marriage has been 
arranged." meant precisely what it said. So, 
in the formal fashion of the time, her father 
proposed to Miss Lucas two gentlemen, either 
of whom would have been agreeable to him. 
Not to Miss Lucas, however. Her letter on the 
subject is very amusing, — so respectful, so 
dutiful, and so full of the determination to have 
her own way : — 

Honoured Sir, — Your letter by way of Phila- 
delphia w*:^ I duly received was an additional proof 
of that paternal tenderness w'rl' I have always Ex- 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

perienced from the most Iiululgent of Parents from 
my Cradle to the present time, and the subject of it 
is of the utmost importance to my peace and hap- 
piness. 

As you propose Mr L. to me I am sorry I can't 
have Sentiments favourable enough to him to take 
time to think on the Subject, as your Indulgence 
to me will ever add weight to the duty that obliges 
me to consult what best pleases you, for so much 
Generosity on your part claims all my Obedience. 
But as I know 'tis my Happiness you consult, I 
must beg the favour of you to pay my compliments 
to the old Gentleman for his Generosity and favour- 
able Sentiments of me, and let him know my 
thoughts on the affair in such civil terms as you 
know much better than any I can dictate; and beg 
leave to say to you that the riches of Chili and Peru 
put together if he had them, could not purchase 
a sufficient Esteem for him to make him my 
husband. 

As to the other gentleman j^ou mention, Mr W., 
you know Sir I have so slight a knowledge of him 
I can form no judgement, and a Case of such con- 
siquence requires the nicest distinction of humours 
and Sentiments. 

But give me leave to assure you my dear Sir that 
a single life is my only Choice; — and if it were 
not as I am yet but Eighteen hope you will put 
aside the thoughts of my marrying yet these two or 
three years at least. 

You are so good as to say 3'ou have too great 



A COUNTRY NEIGHBORHOOD 

an opinion of my prudence to think I would enter- 
tain an indiscreet passion for any one, and I hope 
Heaven will direct me that I may never disapoint 
you, and what indeed could induce me to make a 
Secret of my Inclination to my best friend, as I am 
well asured you would not disaprove it to make me 
a Sacrifice to wealth, and I am as certain I would 
indulge no passion that had not your aprobation, as 
I truely am 

D' Sir Your most dutiful & affect Daughter 

E. Lucas. 

We know not what answer the father made, 
but he was probably reasonable and kind, for 
the rejected suitors are not again alluded to, 
and the young lady was permitted her '' Choice '^ 
at her own time. 



57 



lY 

MARRIAGE 
1742-1744 

All this time the home duties and the Eng- 
lish correspondence were being attended to. 
Polly indeed had been sent to school in Charles 
Town '' at Mrs. Hick's at 140 pound per an- 
num," but her sister found plenty to do. 

There are frequent letters to Mrs. Boddicott 
about the ill boy ; and about some of the " in- 
dentured servants," who generally seem to have 
given much trouble and often ran away, — 
one even enlisting to fight the Indians. There 
are letters of tbanks to her father for pres- 
ents : " The last box from England," " The 
twenty pistols." Very pleasant the English 
boxes seem to have been. 

"Acknowledge the rech of a piece of rich yellow 
Lutestring consisting of 19 y^? for myself — do. 
of blue for my Mama, & thanked my Father, for them, 
also for a piece of Hollands and Cambrick rec*^ from 
London. Tell him we have had a moderate and 
healthy summer and are preparing for the King's 
birtlulaj" next day.'^ 

58 



MARRIAGE 

These English " boxes " must have been a 
general and very agreeable fashion. In the diary 
of another great-grandfather of the writer, he, 
being in England, recorded, '' Sent my wife 
(in Carolina) a piece of blue brocade, also one 
of lutestring to make her gownds — item a 
piece of Hollands to shirts for mee, also 12 
y«?? of Flanders lace, item, bookes — The Whole 
Duty of Married Life &y^ third Yol. of Clarissa 
Harlowe." 

A husband worth having, with a very pretty 
theory of The Whole Duty, etc. ! 

There are many letters to her " cousen " Miss 
Fanny Fayrweather, who had recovered her 
health and her property, and was living happily 
with an uncle Fayrweather in Boston, and 
was " much delighted with that country." 

^' Wrote to my cousen in Boston by Mr Pelham 
recommending him as a Musick Master, & beging 
the favour of her that she would recommend him to 
all her acquaintance, that I had learn'^ of him my- 
self. Sent her some peach trees and our Countr}-- 
patatoes." 

**Sent my Cousin by Cap* Broderick a bar.^ of 
Rice and patatoes. I informed her of my Papa's 
coining soon to us or sending for us to go to Him." 

In return for these presents Miss Fayrweather 
sent apples, — a gift highly prized by the Eng- 
lish-bred girl. ^3 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

There are frequent references to this probable 
return to Antigua, their stay in Carolina ap- 
parently depending upon Governor Lucas being 
appointed to some command in that Province 
or in Georgia. A certain Colonel Heron would 
have been willing to change commissions with 
Colonel Lucas, but asked too large a bonus, 
**not knowing that my Papa's regiment had 
been Augmented." He is informed, but the 
exchange was not effected. 

Then ]\Iiss Lucas had great hopes of her 
father being put in place of Oglethorpe whom 
she seems to have hated. She sends her father 
this, and many other notes to the same effect, 
apropos of the fruitless expedition against the 
Spaniards at St. Augustine, undertaken by 
the united forces of South Carolina and Geor- 
gia, the sole effect of which was some inglorious 
loss of life from disease, and a heavy debt : 
*' Gen.! Oglethorpe greatly blamed ; the Capt.* 
of the men of wars sent home their remon- 
strance and the people their grievance, sixty 
articles against him." 

The Spaniards retaliated by making a descent 
upon Fort St. Simons, and the little island of 
Frederika on the coast of Georgia. The plant- 
ers were alarmed lest their negroes should 
be carried off, as had been done before, to 

GO 



MARRIAGE 

St. Augustine. Garden Ilill was exposed to 
this danger, and Miss Lucas says : — 

^* Wrote to my father . . . informed him that 
ye 30**^ of June an Express arrived from Georgia 
that 12 hundred Spainyards were landed at a small 
island near Frederika. AVrote to Murray upon the 
least alarm or apprehension of danger immediately 
to bring down the negroes. Informed him also of 
Capt. Frankland taking four vessels, one said to 
be worth 10 thousand pound sterling." 

The Spaniards, however, were frightened 
away and the danger was soon passed. But 
the Carolinians were not satisfied, holding 
that the enemy should have been pursued and 
not allowed to escape so easily. Miss Lucas 
wrote : — 

^^ Sept". S*!" wrote my father a full and long 
acC" of 5000 Spainyards landing at S- Symons. 
We were greatly alarmed in Carolina; 80 prisoners 
now in C- Town. They had a large fleet but were 
scattered by bad weather, our little fleet from 
Carolina commanded by Cap* Hardy could not get 
to yF. Generals assistance; the enemy were sailed 
to S" Wanns. 'Tis said Cap* Hardy instead of 
cruizing off S* Augustine barr, where 'twas prob- 
able he W.4 find them, returnd with all his men 
to C'? Town, w*^" has greatly disgusted the Gov.^ 
and Council, as well as the rest of ye Inhab 
61 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

itance. There is sent now 3 men of Warr and 4 
Provincial Vessells, under the command of Cap.l 
Franldand." 

Oglethorpe was tried on his return to Eng- 
land. Walpole, who knew a great deal of the 
inside history of things, speaks of this and 
other court-martials sneeringly ; Oglethorpe he 
says " always was a bully, and is now tried for 
cowardice." He was acquitted of all charges. 
Had Miss Lucas been one of the court there 
would certainly hav(? been a minority report. 
Her feelings, however, were not entirely in- 
spired by prejudice or interest, for friendship 
(and she was a thorougli-going friend) also 
spoke : — 

To Govl Lucas. 

Col. Cook his son and two daughters calH. 
upon US a fortnight since on their way from Georgia 
to C^? Town. Tlie ladies told me their papa had 
met with cruel Treatment from Gen- Oglethorpe; 
when he was so ill they dispair.^ of liis life, the 
Gen A would not give him leave persu?.nt to the 
Doctor's advice to leave Frederika and stay a short 
time at Savanah for the change of air. He liad all 
his letters intercepted and could neither send nor 
receive any, and when by Mrs Cook's going to 
England herself she procured leave for her hus- 
band's return to England, some of Mr Oglethorpe's 
creatures contrived to keep it in the Secretary of 

62 



MARRIAGE 

Warr's office a month, and liis son was obliged to 
come at last to fetch him. They sail from hence 
in about ten da3's for London. I hope Col. Cooks 
representation of his conduct, and this change of 
ministry, with the Enquiry about to be made, how 
tlie publick mon}^ has been apply- for some years 
past, among w'^- those large summs that has been 
given for Georgia must be accounted for, will 
produce some good effect. From the expected 
alterations in Georgia we draw some hopes of see- 
ing my dear papa settled with us once again. 

In order to end the story the followinoj letter, 
although not written until 1745, is given at 
once : — 

To George Lucas Jk 

We hear that Cap* Utting has had his Tryal and 
honourably acquitted, and we shall in all probabil- 
ity have a forty-gun ship stationed at Port Royal. 

Poor Col. Cook is broke on ace* of his com- 
plaint against Mr Oglethorpe. The last mentioned 
carry.? many of his own Creatures home with him 
w'^.V did the business ; and thus we find a man of 
Col. Cook's fair character ruind by this wretch 
who had a superiour Influence at Court. 

The plan of a return to Antigua w^as never 
carried out, so far as Miss Lucas was concerned. 
Her letters in the early part of 1743 are chiefly 
filled with anxiety about the health of her 
younger brother, Tom. The child had never 

63 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

recovered strength since having the small-pox, 
and more than once his life had been despaired 
of. There are pathetic little notices of his good- 
ness and resignation, his " quick parts," his 
" pretty stile in writing," and so on ; and " my 
Mama's grief " at his condition. Governor 
Lucas was very anxious for him to be sent 
eitlier to Antigua or to Carolina. The friends 
and physicians in England thought him not 
fit for the voyage, and the doubt was harassing. 
Troubles never come alone, and theirs were 
increased by the desperate illness of the elder 
son George, in Antigua. His sister (who 
seems to have liad her seniority very much on 
her conscience) wrote him, about this time, a 
letter which, when considered as the familiar 
expression of the faith and piety of a gay 
young girl, taking her part in the society of her 
day, shows that the liabits and manners of the 
world are not incompatible with a true sense 
of religion : — 

I have been thinking my dear Brother how 
necessary it is for young people such as we are, to 
lay down betimes a plan for our conduct in life, in 
order to living not only agreeably in this early 
season of it, but with cheerfulness in maturity, 
comfort in old age and with happiness to eternity; 
and I can find but one scheme to attain all those 
desirable ends, and that the Xtian scheme. To 

64 



MARRIAGE 

live agreeably to the dictates of reason and religion, 
to keep a strict guard over not only our actions, but 
our very thouglits before they ripen into action, to 
be active in every good word and work, must pro- 
duce a peace and calmness of mind beyond expres- 
sion. To be conscious we have an Almighty friend 
to bless our Endeavours, and to assist us in all Diffi- 
culties, gives rapture beyond all the boasted Enjoy- 
ments of the world, allowing them their utmost 
Extent & fulness of joy. Let us then, my dear 
Brother, set out riglit and keep the sacred page 
always in view. 

You have entered into the Army and are not 
yet sixteen years of age, consider then to how 
many dangers you are exposed, (I don't now mean 
those of the field) but those that proceed from 
youth and youthful company, pleasure and dissi- 
pation. You are a Soldier, and Victory- and con- 
quest must fire your mind, remember then the 
greatest conquest is a Victor}^ over your own ir- 
regular passions, consider this is the time for Im- 
provement in Virtue as well as in everything else, 
and 'tis a dangerous weakness to put it off till 
age and infirmities incapacitates us to put our 
good designs in practice. . . . 

Excuse my fears my much loved brother, and 
believe they are excited by the tenderest regard 
for your welfare, and then I will inform you that 
I ani in some pain (notwithstanding your natural 
good sense, for the force of example is great) lest 
you should be infected with the fashionable but 
5 65 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

sliameful vice, too common among the young & 
gay of your sex. I mean pretending a disbelief 
of and a ridiculing of religion, to do w^.^ they must 
first Enslave their reason, and then, Where is the 
rule of Life ? 

However, it requires some fortitude to oppose 
numbers, but cherish this most necessary Virtue, 
'tis so to all mankind, particularly to a Soldier, 
stand firm and unshaken then, in what is right, 
in spite of infidelity and ridicule; and you can't 
be at a loss to know what is right when the Divine 
Goodness has furnished you with reason w*"- is his 
natural revelation, and with his written word su- 
pernaturally revealed and delivered to the world 
of mankind by his son Jesus Christ. 

Examine carefully and unprejudicedly and I am 
convinc'" you will have no doubts as to the truth 
of revelation . . , God is Truth itself and can't 
reveal naturally or supernatarally contrarieties. 
The Christian religion is what the wisest men in 
all ages have assented to, (when I speak of religion 
I mean such as is delivered in the Scripture with- 
out any view to any particular party with exclu- 
sion of all the rest) ; it has been acknowledged by 
the wisest men of our nation and many others that 
revealed religion is consonant to the most exact 
reason, 'tho some things may appear at first sight 
contrary to it, but you must observe, there may be 
things above 'tho not contrary to reason; give me 
leave to show you how Mr. Boyle illustrates it by 
the following comparison. ... 
66 



MARRIAGE 

While I am inculcating this doctrine [of hu- 
mility] before you, don't let me forget to practise 
it myself and ask your pardon for thus presuming, 
and hope you will receive it as a testimony of the 
tenderest regard from 

Your most affectionate Sister, 

E. Lucas. 

The peculiar kind of infidelity against which 
this anxious sister thus warns her young brother, 
indicates the period. The sneering and jeering 
of Voltaire and the Encyclopaedists were al- 
ready in the air. There is nothing eloquent or 
even original in her words, but they are an 
honest and thoughtful confession of faith and 
*' scheme of life." 

Tom, in the meanwhile grew worse, and it 
was at last decided, apparently as a desperate 
expedient, that he should attempt the voyage 
to the West Indies. At the same time Gov- 
ernor Lucas sent his son George to bring his 
mother and sisters home to meet him. 

Another illness, however, Mrs. Pinckney's, 
to which for more than a year past there had 
been frequent allusion in the letters, had drawn 
to its close. She died only a few months before 
Miss Lucas was summoned to Antigua. The 
widower could not see his young friend depart 

67 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

with equanimity. Mrs. Pinckney, the Family 
Legend says, had been so attached to lier young 
friend, and so averse to her returning to An- 
tigua, that she had more than once declared, 
that rather than have her lost to Carolina, she 
would herself " be willing to step down and 
let her take her place." Probably the poor 
lady had no idea that Fate — and her husband, 
would take this declaration so entirely cm pied 
de la lettre, but so they did, and within a few 
months Miss Lucas became the second Mrs. 
Pinckney. 

No one seems to have been at all scandalized, 
and when the circumstances of the case, length 
of voyage, dangers of the sea, probability of 
capture by a Spanish cruiser, etc., are con- 
sidered, perhaps the haste may be forgiven. 
The proposal, we are told, was " very agreeable 
to my Mama ; " Governor Lucas did his duty 
handsomely as to dower and trousseau, and 
on the 25th of May 1744, Governor Glen gave 
a marriage license " authorizing Charles Pinck- 
ney and Eliza Lucas to intermarry, and the said 
Charles Pinckney binds himself by a bond of 
2000 pounds to the faithful performance of the 
contract." 

The following letter is the last signed with 
Miss Lucas's maiden name : — 

68 



MARRIAGE 

To Gov^-, Lucas. 

Wappoo, May 2"^ 
HoN^ SiK, — I received your indulgent letter 
of the 26'-^ of March and take the earliest oppor- 
tunity to express my Thanks for that and for the 
fortune you are pleased to proroise me. I have 
had too many instances of your paternal affection 
and tenderness to doubt your doing all in your 
power to make me happy, and I beg leave here to 
acknowledge particularly my obligation to you for 
the pains and money you laid out in my Education, 
which I esteem a more valuable fortune than any 
you could now have given me, as I hope it will tend 
to make me happy in my future life, and those in 
whom I am most nearly concern*?.. 

I shall always endeavour to deserve 3'our favour 
by the strickest filial duty and obedience; Nature 
Sir, has bound you to a fatherly care of me, but 
nature, gratitude and every tender regard joyn to 
make my duty to you secure. Mr. P has told 
my mama that he is fully satisfied with what you 
intend him, and desires me to tell you so, and that 
if it will embarrass your affairs he will readily 
resign it. You seem a little displeased that my 
Mama and Brother did not communicate this affair 
to you; by which we perceive their letters have 
miscaryd for they certainly did write. My Brother 
and I have wrote three times since the first of 
January, and Duplicated those letters, if any oppor- 
tunity has escaped us 'twas when we were on our 
Southern tour. 

69 



ELIZA PIN CRN EY 

Mama tenders you her affections and my Brother 
and Polly joyn in duty with 

Hon?. Sir 
Your most dutiful Daughter 
Eliza Lucas. 



70 



THE PINCKNEY FAMILY 

Something must now be said of the Pinckney 
family into which Miss Lucas had married. 

The first emigrant of the name to Carolina 
came from the North of England in 1692, and 
is called in a paper signed soon after his arrival, 
'' Thomas Pinckney, Gentleman." This epithet 
applied to an Englishman of that time, implied 
a certain social standing, and seems to have 
been equally true of this particular English- 
man, when used in our sense of the word. The 
emigration was not made without due thought, 
for in the preceding year Mr. Pinckney had 
made a voyage to the West Indies, and to Caro- 
lina, to spy out the land, before determining his 
choice of a home. On that voyage he had seen 
an attack upon a British merchantman by a 
Spanish cruiser, and so knew something per- 
sonally of the first dangers of colonization. 

When he came he brought his young wife, 

Mary Cotesworth, with him. She too was from 

Durham in the " bonnie North Countrie," and 

we do not know why they crossed the seas to 

71 



ELIZA riNCKNEY 

set up their household gods in Carolina. They 
were possessed of a fair property, but what 
goods and chattels they brought with them we 
do not know. A mourning ring of three small 
diamonds with an enamelled hoop, inscribed, 
" Ch?. Cotesworth — Aetat 72 — ob. 1701," 
alone remains of all their possessions. Prob- 
ably they were the plain necessary utensils of 
daily life, for plain and rough the life must 
have been; although coming as late as 1G92, 
they escaped the terrible first years of the col- 
ony, those years which are always so interesting 
to read of, and so horrible to endure. 

By 1G92 Charles Town was a stirring little 
place with a good trade, chiefly with the West 
Indies, and not much trouble from the Indians. 
When this young couple arrived, they found a 
little hamlet, clinging close to the east water 
front of the swampy peninsula between the 
Ashley and the Cooper, Avhich jutted out into 
the bay formed by the conlluence of the two 
rivers. The land was low and intersected with 
creeks, which added greatly to the difficulties of 
the new settlement. On one of these, on the 
southern edge of the town, the landgrave Smith 
had a fcAV years before planted one of the first 
patches of rice grown in the i^roAince. 

From this creek the houses ran northward 
along the Cooper River on the present East- 



THE riNCKNEY FAMILY 

Bay. On the opposite side of the street was 
an embankment, or fortification with bastions. 
The whole line from Craven bastion at the 
south, to Granville at the north end, was not 
more than tlirce of our squares in length. On 
tlie west, parallel with the Bay, was Church 
Street, with the little " French Meeting House " 
upon it ; and west of that was Meeting Street, 
with the Independent (called from its color 
the White) Meeting House ; and St. Philip's 
Church, on the site of the present Saint Mi- 
chael's. The town walls ran down Meeting 
Street close in front of these, enclosing thus 
a small irregular parallelogram (if such a 
thing can be), bounded north and south by 
creeks, where Water Street and the market 
now are. Opposite to St. Philip's (just built, 
and the pride of the place), where the Court 
House now stands, was a " half moon " in the 
wall, with a drawbridge which gave egress to 
the country without. 

The rest of the peninsula, the present city, 
was dotted with small houses and little farms 
where some persons lived without the walls. It 
was so thickly wooded that in this same year 
1692, the Assembly passed a bill ordering it 
cleared of underwood, possibly for safety, as 
nnderwood might cover an Indian attacking 
party. 

73 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

Thomas Pinckney bought land and settled a 
plantation to the southward on the Ashepoo 
River, and called it Auckland, in memory of 
the beautiful town of Bishop-Auckland in Dur- 
ham, whence he and his wife came ; but he was 
a merchant as well as a planter (as many were 
in those days), and he lived in Charles Town in 
a house which he built for himself at the south- 
west corner of Tradd and East-Bay Streets. It 
was a pleasant situation, open to the water with 
only the seawall in front of it, as the houses 
on East Battery stand to-day. Just across the 
street was Tradd's house ; the street taking its 
name from "The first male child born in C? 
Town ; Robert, son of Mr. Richard and Eliza- 
beth Tradd. Of an agreeable person, noble 
mind, etc, etc, and died the 30- of June 1731 
in the 52''"'^ year of his age, and is interred 
within the walls of this church, to the support 
of the ministry whereof he bequeathed the 
profits of 1000 pounds forever, besides a con- 
siderable legacy to the Poor of the Province." 
All of which was duly set forth on a mural 
tablet in the " White Meeting." 

This good looking and charitable gentleman 
must have been thirteen, when Mr. and Mrs. 
Pinckney came to live opposite to him and his 
parents, and it is to be hoped that they were 
pleasant neighbors. 

74 



THE PINCKNEY FAMILY 

Much must have depended on neighbors 
then. One would like very much to Ivnow how 
the young wife, Mary Cotesworth, managed, 
and what she did. How did she stand the 
change from the green hills and breezy moors 
of Durham, to the low swampy village and 
semi-tropical heat of her new home ? The 
town was in those first years so sickly (and it 
had every right so to be) that the country 
around, higher, dryer, and more thickly covered 
with pines, was esteemed healthy in compari- 
son, — as frequently appears in Miss Lucas's 
letters. Now the clearing of forests and lay- 
ing bare of swamps have made the country 
deadly, while malarial fever is most rare in 
Charleston, so much have drainage, cistern 
water, and the smoke of many fires done for 
the city. 

Besides the climate, there were other hard 
conditions. Did she have indentured servants ? 
They were said to be either idle and worthless, 
or else to feel their own value so strongly as to 
be at best but lenient masters. Did she have 
negroes ? There were not many at that early 
period, and they were savages, untaught and 
untrained. When her baby came four years 
afterwards, how she must have trembled and 
shrunk, poor little North Country girl, from 
the strange, uncouth creatures, if she had to 

75 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

give her child to one of these to nuree. She 
could not have known that those dark beings, 
with their unintelligible speech, held the poten- 
tialit}' of the dear old " maumas " of later days, 
tenderest and most faithful of nurses. 

Tlie Colony had had its internal troubles, 
but they were not as great as in many others. 
There were quarrels of authority, of churches, 
etc., but in the main the government was fair, 
and although the Church of England had great 
prestige, and did after a while succeed in get- 
ting itself " established," the others were not 
interfered with, and it was only the French 
Huguenots who had much to complain of. 
They were called " aliens," and were, it must 
be said, badly treated until the year 1692, when 
laws were passed securing their personal and 
political rights. 

The historian Ramsay dates the prosperity 
of Carolina from this very year 1692, when 
various other disputes were settled by wise legis- 
lation. It must have thriven to have deserved 
the following account of it given by Mr. John 
Lawson, an English government surveyor, who 
spent several years there. He says : — 

" This Colony was at first planted by a genteel 

sort of people that were well acquainted with the 

trade, and had either money or parts to make good 

use of the advantages that offered, as most have 

76 



THE PINCKNEY FAMILY 

done by raising tliemsclves to great estates. . . . 
Their inliabiting in a town lias drawn to them 
ingenious persons of most sciences, whereby they 
have tutors among them that educate their youth 
alaviode, . . . Tlie merchants of Carolina are fair 
fuank traders The gentlemen seated in the coun- 
try are very courteous, live very nobly in their 
houses, and give very genteel entertainments to all 
strangers and others that come to visit them/' 

This is rather a striking account (and there 
is much more of it) of a colony only thirty 
years old. By "well acquainted with the 
trade" Lawson probably means the West 
Indian trade, sufficiently described in the let- 
ters of Governor Lucas and his daughter. To 
England the colonists sent rice, already (in 
1700) producing more than they could easily 
get freight for, and also skins. It seems 
strange to remember that ours was then a fur- 
producing state, as Alaska is now. The woods 
were then full of deer, bears, raccoons, otters, 
and other beasts. The Indians brought them 
down to the coast for rum and less iniquitous 
exchanges, and the pelts found ready sale. 

The deadly " firewater " was furnished to 
these unhappy children of the forest without 
the least compunction, by the godly North and 
South. The Hon. William A. Courtenay in his 
centennial address, on the Incorporation of 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

the City of Charleston, quotes a gentleman, 
long resident in South Carolina (1731), who 
stated that " Charles Town traded with eight 
thousand Indians, and yet, nine hundred hogs- 
heads of rum was the utmost they ever im- 
ported in one year for home consumption and 
for trade with those eight thousand Indians." 
Evidently the gentleman, like Lord Clive, 
"stood astonished at his own moderation." 

The house on the Bay must have been a de- 
lightful point of vantage for the tliree bright- 
eyed little Pinckney boys, whose father was 
concerned in all this trade. From their own 
windows they could throw a stone into the broad 
river mouth before them, — the river mouth 
which only a hundred yards lower down be- 
came the bay. When a ship came in, sailing 
slowly up with broad bows and queerly shaped 
sails, laden deep with sugar, rum, molasses, 
and fruit, what an excitement if 't was for their 
" dear papa." The sailors fought and quarrelled 
in the streets, and were so unruly that a bell 
rang at seven o'clock every evening as a signal 
for them to go on board again. If they resisted, 
the patrol, the armed guard of citizens who 
were the police of the time, took them in cus- 
tody, and sent them to their vessels^ or to the 
Court of Guard, which was at the end of Broad 
Street, w^here the Post-office is now. 

78 



THE PINCKNEY FAMILY 

When the English ships came with all their 
varied freights, — their interest was even keener, 
for then came the home letters over which their 
mother laughed and cried. Half way across 
the river was the long shoal island almost 
covered at high water, on which the sailors 
beached their vessels, or fishermen drew their 
nets, as seen in an old print of the time. 

Little Charles Pinckney, the second son, a 
laughing sweet-tempered, brown-eyed little boy, 
must have looked often from his windows at 
the busy workers on the shoal. It was called 
" Shute's Folly " then, but in after years was 
to bear the Fort, named in honor of his own 
son, " Castle Pinckney." When the storms and 
" hurricanes " came, the spray must have 
dashed above the roof, and the water risen high 
within their house. 

This little boy was not old enough to re- 
member the storm by which the White Meet- 
ing got a pastor, in surely the oddest way 
in which ever a pulpit was filled. The Rev. 
Mr. Stobo had gone down to that unlucky 
Scotch colony at Darien. When the calami- 
tous failure there came, he set sail to re- 
turn to Scotland. Off Charles Town bar they 
stopped for water and supplies. The people, 
hearing that the reverend gentleman was lying 
outside, sent down to invite him to come up and 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

preach for them the next day. He did so, and 
while on shore a terrible storm arose, in which 
the ship, with every soul on board, was lost. 

So clear a " leading " could not be neglected. 
The congregation called him, and he proved (as 
the Historical Sketch by a recent pastor, the 
Rev. Mr. Misseldine, says) an acceptable and 
useful pastor, '- living half a century, and found- 
mg a numerous family and several churches." 

This was in 1700, and the little Charles 
Pinckney was too young to remember it, but 
when the French admiral, M. Le Feboure, 
made his famous attack on Carolina in 1707, 
coming to get back the Province for the King 
of Spain who claimed it as a part of Florida, 
what an excitement for the boys ! The for- 
tification (the embankment which was just 
across the street) was to be strengthened, and 
every man in the town was to be set to work 
on it, and to learn how to manage the guns. 
The governor, an old soldier, Sir Nathaniel 
Johnson, came and went among them, and we 
may be sure the boy went too. 

Across the bay, within sight on James Island, 
a little fort was being built. Fort Johnson, 
which his own sons were to command in 1776 ; 
rebels to the King, but true to the country. 
Then the militia came in from the country 
round, a band of friendly Indians among them, 

80 



THE PINCKNEY FAMILY 

and at last, after days of watching, " five 
sei)aratc smokes" (says Ramsay) upon Sul- 
livan's Island told that five French vessels 
were off the bar. This is not a military history, 
so it docs not tell the skirmishes and fights 
which took place in the bay and on the islands 
around, in which the forefathers of men who 
have borne themselves bravely in many larger 
wars, showed the stuff they were made of. 
Providence and the stout English hearts fought 
for Carolina that day, and 't was a fair foun- 
dation for the love of country which was to be 
so strong in Charles Pinckney and his sons, 
that he should see that sight, and perhaps hear 
the answer (for it was given in Granville Bas- 
tion, not a stone's throw from his home) of Sir 
Nathaniel, when the French envoy demanded a 
surrender " allowing one hour for an answer." 
The stout Englishman replied : — 

" There is no occasion for one minute to 
answer that message. I hold the town for the 
Queen of England [Anne] and I can depend 
upon my men who will sooner die than surren- 
der. I am resolved to defend the place to the 
last drop of my blood." 

All the surrendering, one vessel striking her 
flag without firing a shot, was done by the 
invaders. Three hundred officers and men, 
with a French general among them, were taken 

6 81 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

prisoners and " offered as ransom ten thousand 
pieces of eight," — which has a delightful flavor 
of Robinson Crusoe about it. 

Ramsay (the chief autliority for the fore- 
going account) gives a stanza from some 
satirical verses made on this occasion, wliich 
shows how the Huguenot settlers had by this 
time become identified with their new home, 
and how bitter, as has been said, were their 
feelings towards France. The poet (probably 
one of the garrison) makes the governor 
say : — 

"Que s'ils attaquaient uotre camp 
lis y trouveraient bieii mille hommes, 
Qui ne se Lattraieut pas de pommes, 
Outre cinq cens Kofuges 
Que la France a repudies, 
Et rcduits pvesque a I'indigence 
Qui ue respiraient que vengeance, 
Ce qu'on leur ferait eprouvcr 
S'ils osaieut nous venir trouver." 

Quite as exciting must have been the war 
with the pirates, who w^ere at this time the 
greatest hindrance to the trade. These free- 
booters held possession of the seas for years. 
It must be confessed that the distinction be- 
tween privateers and pirates was extremely 
fine. When tlie sailors came on shore witli 
their pockets full of gold, and rich pieces of 
silk and satin to bestow ui)on their friends, all 



THE riNCKNEY FAMILY 

supposed to have been taken from the Spaniards, 
or the French, they were privateers and gallant 
fellows ! If the governors, spurred on to do 
their duty by urgent orders from England, had 
them brought to trial, there were always lawyers 
clever enough to get them off. The Colony — 
it was not the only one — suffered mucli dis- 
credit by this winking at evil, which at last 
went to such lengths that the Proprietors them- 
selves, to gratify the people, granted an indem- 
nity to all pirates " except such as had 
committed depredations upon the dominions 
of the Great Mogul ! " 

This shameful proceeding met with its just 
reward. The rice ships were a tempting spoil, 
— the return vessels from Barbadoes or 
Jamaica, loaded with rum and sugar more 
tempting still, and were certainly not protected 
by belonging to the Great Mogul. In four 
years between thirty and forty vessels in the 
Carolina trade w^ere taken on the coast. Some 
few pirates were caught and hanged; (they were 
pirates then, when they had touched British 
vessels), but with the island of Providence to the 
south, and the Cape Fear River in North Caro- 
lina, for places of refuge, they defied pursuit. 

Two men, Steed Bonnctt and Richard Worlcy, 
were especially dreaded. They had established 
themselves on the Cape Fear and might be 
- 83 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

said to blockade Charles Town harbor. Luckily 
Governor Johnson, the son of Sir Nathaniel, 
was, like his father, a man of spirit and resolu- 
tion. He fitted out "a ship of Force" and 
gave the command to Colonel William Rhett, 
who had been vice admiral in the Le Feboure 
war, and sent him to sea " to protect the Com- 
merce." Rhett had hardly crossed tlie bar when 
Bonnett hove in sight. Rhett immediately 
made sail for him, and the pirate fled to his 
stronghold in the Cape Fear. Rhett pursued, 
captured Bonnett, his sloop of ten guns and 
all his men, and brought them triumphantly 
into Charles Town. 

Thereupon the governor himself went to 
sea, in search of the consort of six guns, com- 
manded by Worley. Worley made a desperate 
resistance, fighting his sloop until he himself 
and one other man, both severely wounded, 
were the only survivors. Governor Johnson 
brought the sloop and the wounded men home 
with him ; and " to prevent their dying of their 
wounds" had them instantly tried, condemned, 
and executed ! A savage proceeding, we should 
say nowadays, but there was then a strong ob- 
jection to a malefactor " cheating the gallows " 
by any less disgraceful death. 

Why a much longer and more formal shrift 
should have been granted to Bonnett and his 

84 



THE PINCKNEY FAMILY 

crew docs not appear. They were tried, and 
all but one condemned to death. Bennett, who 
was a man of some education and manners, 
had great hopes of a pardon ; he contrived to 
make his escape from prison in female dress, 
but was captured and brought back. 

He wrote a letter of appeal to Rhett, pray- 
ing him to intercede for him with the House of 
Commons, and basing his claim to mercy on 
the ground that he had spared many lives by 
surrendering when he did. The letter is well 
expressed, but blasphemous considering the 
wretch from whom it came. He said that he 
was sure, " if I had the happiness of a longer 
life granted me in this world, that I shall 
always retain and bear in mind, and endeavour 
to follow those excellent precepts of our Holy 
Saviour to love my neighbour as myself," etc. 

Rhett and Johnson were men of too stern 
a mould to believe in any such protests, and 
Bennett and all his men — forty in all — were 
hanged, and were buried on White Point, below 
high-water mark. White Point is the extreme 
southern end of the peninsula of Charleston. 
The shoal has been filled up and now forms 
the Battery Garden. The ladies and children 
who assemble there on fine afternoons to walk 
or play, little think that the bones of forty 
pirates there " moulder deep below." 

85 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

This happy despatch was an immense relief 
to the trade of the town, wdiich henceforth 
flourished with only the legitimate drawbaclcs 
of the long wars so often referred to. 

Thomas Pinckney did not live to enjoy this 
prosperity long. He made a fair fortune, but 
died while his sons were still children. The Fam- 
ily Legend has it, that, looking from his window 
one day, he saw a handsome, gaily dressed 
young man, landing from a West Indian vessel. 
Calling to his wife he said, " Mary, that young 
fellow will marry some poor fellow's widow, 
spend her money and break her heart." The 
first part of the prediction was fulfilled, for 
when he himself died soon after, his widow 
married the very man. The second was only 
partly true, for though he did squander much 
of her property, enough remained to educate and 
provide for her sons. The heart was too tough 
for even prophecy to effect it, for she lived to 
marry a third time, and survived to a great 
age, tenderly loved and tended by her chil- 
dren. 

The boys were, by their father's desire, sent 
to England for their education. The eldest, 
Thomas, who had inherited a landed property, 
in Durham, entered the English army and 
died, as a mourning ring shows, in 1733, aged 
37. The second, Charles, was bred to the bar, 

86 



THE PINCKNEY FAMILY 

and after bcini? adinittccl, married the daugh- 
ter of Captain Jiaiiib, of Devonshire S(iiiare, 
London. She was tlie Mrs. Pinckney Avho was 
to make the matcli between lier husban<l and 
Miss Lucas. The third son, WiUiam, held for 
years the position of Commissioner in Equity. 

At the time of his first wife's death Colonel 
Pinckney was about forty-five years old. He 
had been married for many years, and was 
childless. He had accumulated a large fortune 
at the bar, was a lawyer and planter. Speaker 
of the House of Assembly, and a member of the 
Royal Council of the Province. He had a 
charming temi)cr and disposition, gay and 
courteous manners, was well looking, well 
educated, aijd of high religious principles. He 
had in fact every qualification to make a young 
wife happy, and how well he succeeded in 
doing so her letters testify. 

Perhaps, however, that which most influenced 
the future course of the family, and the lives 
of his sons, was the fact that he was a Caro- 
linian born ; that his childish eyes had first 
looked out on Charles Town bay, and that 
among the first recollections of his boyhood, 
must have been the defeat of Le Fc^boure by 
the Provincials, and the proud words of the 
old governor, '' I can trust my own men." 



87 



YI 

EARLY MAERIED LIFE 

1742-1747 

In all this long correspondence there is not 
one single love-letter. That such there were 
we cannot doubt. The young lady was far too 
*' fond of my pcnn " for it to be otherwise. 
Perhaps she thought them too sacred to be 
copied out ; or perhaps they were in that " other 
book " which is sometimes alluded to, and 
which is as lost to us as is the Book of Jasher 
to the Israelites. 

There are, however, a few notes, written 
while as a bride she was still in her mother's 
house (for she did not leave her mother while 
the poor lady remained in Carolina), which are 
so quaint in their formality that two are given 
here. The first relates to the illness of Colonel 
Pinckney's mother, to attend whom he had 
evidently gone to town, leaving his bride at 
Wappoo : — 

Dear Sir, — I am sorry I had not the pleasure 
of your company yesterday; but I am still more 
88 



EARLY MARRIED LIFE 

concern'd at the cause of my disapointment. I 
hope my mother is not in so weak a condition as 
you imagine, and tliat it is only the fears of a 
dutiful child, ever apprehensive of the worst makes 
you think her so ill. May heaven j^reserve her, 
and continue you longer an example of the strictest 
filial duty and regard ; and give me an opportunity 
of extending the aifection I have for you to y'. good 
mother by using my best endeavours to soften 
those cares and infirmitys, which usually attend 
the decline of life and 

may the tender office long engage 
to rock the cradle of reposeing age, 
"Nvitli lenient arts extend a parent's breath 
make languor smile, and smooth a bed of death, 
explore the thought, explain the asking eye 
and save awhile one parent from the sky. 

Pope 

Instead of sending to know how my mother does 
I should have come myself but am so much dis- 
orderd with the head, I am not able to come down in 
the heat of the day; if she is not better please to 
lett me know and I will bo down early in the morn- 
ing, till when and ever 

I am 

Dear Sir 

Your affectionate 
Eliza Pixcknet. 
The second is as follows : — 

^^I never give a loose to my ambition but when I 
write to you. Then I confess I sett no bounds to 
89 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

my vanity, and desire not only to be the best scribe 
in this part of the world, but to e(|ual even a 
Cicero or Demosthenes that I might gain your 
applause; but how wild is tlie desire, how fruitless 
the wish in my hap])iest intervals; what then can 
you expect when I have been just rideing six mile 
in the heat of the sun, and am not able to fdl 
half a page with what my own triffling genius 
usually affords. 

^' I can indeed tell you I have the greatest esteem 
and affection imaginable for you; that next to Him 
that form'd it, my heart is intirely at your dis- 
posal, but this you knew the day I gave you my 
hand; and as for news, you were the last that gave 
me any intelligence of human affairs. Mr Gay 
lias entertained us very agreeably on things of a 
divine nature, but j^ou may not be inclined to hear 
three sermons a day." 

It will be observed that Mrs. Pinckney takes 
it for granted that her husband has been to 
church twice already that day. Mr. Gay 
must have been preaching that hot Sun- 
day morning at St. Andrew's, the parish 
church, on the river road. He was one of the 
first clergymen sent out by the Society for 
the Propagation of the Gospel, to supply the 
churches in South Carolina, after the "Estab- 
lishment" in 1706. It is curious to think that 
a hundred and fifty years ago, churches in this 
country were maintained by this society, as 

90 



EARLY MARRIED LIFE 

mission stations in New Zealand or South 
Africa arc to-day. 

It was after the " Establishment " that the 
ten country cl lurches were built, — all of them 
within sixty miles of the coast, for the upper 
part of the Province was much in the condition 
of the Highlands in the " '45," when " Sunday 
seldom came abune the pass of Ballybrough." 

Besides these notes to her husband, the new 
Mrs. Pinckney wrote to her different friends ; 
she was, although troubled at parting with her 
family, beamingly happy, and she did not con- 
ceal her happiness. The first letter is of course 
to her father : — 

" HoND Sir : — Since I last payl my duty to you, 
I have pursuant to your advice as well as my own 
inclination, enterd into a new state of Life; it 
gives me all imaginable satisfaction to know that I 
have the approbation of the tenderest of Parents, 
and that of all my friends and acquaintance of my 
choice. I do assure you Sir that tho I think Mr 
Pinckney's character and merrit are sufficient to 
engage the esteem of any lady acquainted with 
him the leaving you at such a distance was an 
objection I could not easily get over; but when I 
considered that Providence might by some means 
or other bring us together again, and that it must 
be a great satisfaction to you as well as to myself, 
to know that I have put myself into the bauds of a 
91 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

man of lionour, wlioes good sense and sweetness of 
disposition gives me a prospect of a liappy life, I 
thought it prudent, as well as intirely agreeable to 
niee, to accept the offer; and I shall make it the 
whole Study of my Life to fix that esteem and affec- 
tion Mr. Finckney has professd for me, and con- 
siquently he more worthily your daughter '^ . . . 

Next is a letter to a young lady of whom 
Miss Lucas had been very fond as a girl in 
England. The friends had lost sight of each 
other, until, not long before the marriage, 
a message from the former Miss Martin had 
reached Miss Lucas through their governess 
Mrs. Pearson. Miss Martin was now the wife 
of Sir Nicholas Carew, of Bcddington, Surrey, 
and there is a letter to her, begun as Miss 
Lucas and finished as Mrs. Pinckney. The 
postscript (the most important part) says : — 

''P. S. Since the foregoing which has been 
wrote and laid b}^ several months, for want of a 
proper opportunity, I have changed my condi- 
tion in Life, which occations my continuing in 
Carolina. 

^^ You will be apt to ask me, dear Lady Carew, 
how I could leave a tender and aiFectionate Father, 
Mother, Brother and Sister to live in a strange 
country, but I flatter myself if you knew the 
Character and Merrit of the Gentleman I have 
made Choice of, (he is a Gentleman of the Law, 
92 



EARLY MARRIED LIFE 

and one of his Majesty's Council) you would think 
it less strange, especially as it was with the appro- 
bation of all my friends. 

^'Mr. Finckney intends to bring me to England 
in a year or two, where one of the greatest pleas- 
ures I promise myself is telling you in person how 
much I am '' etc., etc. 

Henceforth the correspondence with this 
lady is frequent and confidential ; but perhaps 
the prettiest of all these joyous notes is one to 
Miss Fayrweather : — 

*' I am sure you will pardon me my dear Cousin 
tho I have not acknowledge^ the receipt of your 
letter by Mr Symons and thanked you for the 
barberrys (which were very good) when you con- 
sider I have had so weighty a matter upon my 
hands as that of matrimony. I see you smile and 
wonder, that difficult girl (that's y~ phrase) ever 
married, that filled her own head, and was always 
preaching up to you the great Importance of a 
matter; of wch. the generality of people make so 
light. Nay, you did not scruple telling me I 
should never get a man to answer my plan, and 
must therefore dye an old maid. 

*'But you are mistaken. I am married and 
the gentleman I have made choice of comes up to 
my plan in every title. But jesting aside, 'tis my 
dear fann}", a nice affair, for if we happen to 
judge wrong and are unequally match'd there is 
93 



ELIZA PIN CRN EY 

an end of all human felicity, for as Doc*- Watts 

says 

As well may Heavenly concert spring 
from two old lutes without a string 
or none beside the bass. 

^' How careful then ought we to be, . . . when 
I tell you, tis Mr Pinckney I have married you 
will think I do him barely justice when I say his 
good Seuce and Judgemeut, his extraordinary good 
nature and evenness of temper joynd to a most 
agreeable conversation and many valuable qualifi- 
cations gives me the most agreeable prospect in 
the world. . . . Mr Pinckney desires to b>e re- 
membered to you, and in case we have a peace we 
hope to see you here; he also desires me to tell 
you whenever you make a vizet to Carolina, he 
hopes you will make our house your home. Pray 
make my compliments " etc. 

To the Bartletts, the sister and niece of the 
first Mrs Pinckney, "my predecessor," she is 
at first a little formal. 

To Mrs Bartlett. 

Mad'.V, — As I have succeeded your good sister 
with whom I had the happiness of an intimate 
acquaintance of some years, and I flatter myself a 
very great degree of her affection and friendship, 
I take the liberty to pay my respects to you, though 
I have not the pleasure to be personally acquainted 
with you. 

I am conscious Mad".^ how unworthy I am to 
94 



EARLY MARRIED LIFE 

supply the place of so good a wife as your sister 
was, but at the same time I must beg leave to 
assure you that however short of her I may come 
in other matters in one thing I shall equal her; 
viz.*, a due regard to her relations and a readiness 
to do everytliing in my power to serve them. I 
shall be very glad of a correspondence with one 
so nearly related to my deceased friend as Mrs 
Bartlett, and shall look upon it as a particular 
obligation done me if agreeable to you. 

Mr P. thought he had sent home everything of 
value belonging to your Sister, but I find a very 
good suit of laced linning [linen] and a velvet 
scarf, was forgot wch. I now send; also a brown 
taffety gownd begun to be quilted, w*'.^ I shall 
endeavour to get finished, in time to send you 
with this by Cap.. White. Pray pay my compli- 
ments to Miss Bartlett and deliver her the inclosed. 
I am 

Madam 

Your most obedient Servant 

Eliza Pinckney. 

An attack on her husband soon roused the 
young wife to animation. A malicious story 
had been told to Mrs. Bartlett by a person 
going from Cliarles Town to London, that her 
sister had been neglected in her last illness. 
It is pretty to see the indignant scorn with 
which her friend and successor repels the 
charge. She writes to Miss Bartlett : — 

95 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

*^I am a good deal surprized at the ridiculoiig 
story you mention from Mrs G., as it has so little 
the appearance of probability, indeed she was in 
the right if she had any view of telling such a 
story, to do it out of Carolina, and to peo]3le quite 
unacquainted with Mr Pinckney's character; had 
I not known him to have been the best of husbands, 
I had not been in the relation I now am to him.'' 

Then follow some details of illness, and she 
adds : — 

*^I am sorry Mrs G. has given herself any 
unbecoming airs about you, but am more so to hear 
you express so much concern at it, for you can 
never think people of sence and penetration can 
ever regard what such a tatling woman says, that 
seems to study and love mischief for no other reason 
but to gratify an envious malicious temper or a 
tatling gossiping one, ... I daresay you never 
in the least injured her, . . . and Mr P. has 
always been a friend to her; but I thank God his 
character is too well and too deservedly established, 
to receive any hurt from her, tho' she may show 
her good will towards it." 

The Bartletts evidently paid no attention to 
the story, and the next letter shows the old 
custom of giving gloves at a wedding (or 
funeral). Their relations always continued 
kind and friendly. 

96 



EARLY MARRIED LIFE 

To Miss Bartlett. 

The compliment of a p.! of gloves on a wedding 
T sliould have beg^ your acceptance of in Season, 
had I had an opportunity, and therefore hope you 
will excuse it coming late ; 

Mr. Garden will be so good as to deliver you a 
couple of guineas for a pair of gloves for you and 
Mrs Bartlett. 

All this time (from May to July) Eliza's 
mother, Mrs. Lucas, was waiting for a vessel to 
take her to Antigua. The poor lady had not 
only to break up her establishment in Carolina, 
part with the daughter who had so long been 
head and hands to her, and endure the voyage, 
but there was cruel anxiety as to the condi- 
tion in which her younger son would reach 
Antigua. 

She was detained, the " brigg " (sad substi- 
tute for the man-of-war for which she had 
hoped) being kept until July. Mrs, Pinckney 
wrote by the same vessel to her father that 
his agent had withdrawn from business, and 
that — 

^' Mr. Pinckney desires me to tell you that not- 
withstanding his own affairs require so much of 
his attention as they do, he will with pleasure do 
anything in his power to serve you, and if yow. will 
send him a power, he will comply with your re- 
7 97 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

quest, and manage your affairs in the best manner 
he can. 

" An Embargo laid on the Shiping here, has de- 
tained my Mama and Brother these two days, but 
having no further account of an Invation, (which 
was talked of when the Embargo was laid on,) it 
was taken off yesterda}^ . . . 

*^I should now send you my Plantation accounts 
but my Mama going tomorrow, Mr Pinckney's 
mother being dangerously ill, and I but just come 
home obliges me to defer it. . . ." 

Not for some months more did news of their 
arrival, after a " dismal passage,'* reach Caro- 
lina. The seas surrounding those summer isles 
of Eden are apt to be rough in August and 
September, and the party in the merchant brig 
had suffered terribly. Tom had arrived, but 
Governor Lucas wrote to his son-in-law : — 

My son Tommy lately arrived here from Lon- 
don in a very low and weak Condition, & as he was 
given over by the Physitians, I have put him under 
a French Gentleman's direction, who has wrought 
surprizing things on some Persons here under the 
same Distemper, so I have from him still some 
hopes of a Cure. He tells me he wants Artichoak 
roots as an Ingredient in a Tysan He uses, I must 
therefore pray you will procure and send me ten or 
a Doz° pounds of them, dryed out of the Sun, and 
send them by the first Yessell. . . . 
98 



EARLY MARRIED LIFE 

My wife, Polly and poor Tommy joyn with 
Love and Blessing to you and my Dear Daughter & 
I am Dear Sir 

Y.' most affectionate Father 
& 6h^} HumHl*^ Servant 

Geo. Lucas 

P. S. Pray accept the Compliments of the Season 
Antigua Decern r. 24*.'3 1744 
To the Hon^}? Charles PincTcney. 

Governor Lucas was evidently displeased 
that the boy had been kept so long in England, 
for his daughter writes to appease his wrath : — 

^'I am sorry you apprehend any unkindness in 
his being kept so long in England, for surely Sir, our 
friends there must have done it for the best, though 
they have mistaken it." 

In the same letter she says : — 

" I have according to your desire got all the 
drugs I could gett here, and may heaven give you 
success in the application and make them effectual. 

'' There is no such thing imported as fumaric or 
fumitory, but every thing else I have got ; viz^ 

''Sl^'Sarsparilla 
1 " Aristolochia 
3 '* Koman Allom 
^ Sweet Mercury 

Artichoak roots dryd as directed." 
99 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

One would hardly care to venture on a tisane 
of the above ingredients ; but the French 
gentleman's remedies proved beneficial, for 
Tommy improved and lived for years, although 
— perhaps because — a thousand miles of 
storm-tossed ocean lay between him and his 
apothecary. 

Governor Lucas must have had some misgiv- 
ings lest his managing daughter should attempt 
to be also a managing wife, and must have given 
a hint to that effect, for there is an amusing 
touch of proud humility in her reply : — 

^^ I am greatly obliged to 3^011 for your very good 
advice in my present happy relation. I think it 
entirely reasonable, and 'tis with great truth that 
I assure you t'is not more my duty than my incli- 
nation to follow it; for making it the business of my 
life to please a man of Mr Pinckney's merrit even 
in triffles, I esteem a pleasing task: and I am well 
asured the acting out of my proper province and 
invading his, would be an inexcusable breach of pru- 
dence ; as his superionr understanding, (without any 
other consideration,) would point him to dictate, 
and leave me nothing but the easy task of obeying/' 

These be fine words ; but luckily husband 
and wife seem to have had a thoroughly happy 
sense of each other's powers and intentions, and 
nothing approaching " dictation " or invasion 
of rights is anywhere perceptible. 
100 



EARLY MARRIED LIFE 

By the same vessel she wrote to her mother : 

*^T\vo days after you sailed we came to Belmont, 
M'here we often wished to enjoy your Company in a 
state of tranquillity, a state we so long before had 
been almost strangers to. We have spent the sum- 
mer here very agreably without being (what you 
seemed to apprehend) at all lonesome, for my dear 
Mr Pinckney (whose humanity none can be a 
stranger to that know him) has never left me but 
one day in the week since I have been here. 

^^Mrs Woodward went up with Mrs Hutson 
soon after you left us and has not been in town 
since, '^ etc., etc. 

At this place, Belmont, about five miles from 
Charles Town, a great deal of Mrs. Pinckney's 
future life was to be spent. It was a delightful 
residence, a large brick house, standing, as most 
of the country houses did, a few hundred yards 
from the water's edge, on a semicircular head- 
land making out into a bold creek, a branch of 
the Cooper River. The view was remarkably 
extensive, almost to the harbor bar on the 
right, and far up the broad stream on the left, 
while in front the river at high water resembled 
a lake in its expanse ; and in its wide sweep 
and low-lying shores, gave all the charm of 
wide horizons. 

Here Mrs. Pinckney was perfectly happy, 
busy with congenial, interesting occupations, a 
101 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

cultivated and sympathetic husband at her side, 
and friends within easy reach. Here she gave 
the rein to her taste for planting trees, for this 
she expected to be her home for life ; at Wappoo 
there had always been the dread of a return to 
Antigua to discourage her. She planted not 
only the trees of the country, oak, magnolia, 
etc., but foreign species, trying which she could 
acclimatize ; assisted and encouraged in her 
work by Dr. Garden, the earliest of Carolinian 
botanists, whose name comes down to us with 
a sweet savor, in the exquisite " Gardenia," 
named in his honor by his friend and corre- 
spondent Linnaeus. She also continued to 
superintend her father's plantation affairs, 
in wdiich Colonel Pinckney gave her great 
help. 
■^^ Indigo, of which notliing has been said for 
some time (it being most convenient to give 
the whole story at once) was now being made 
in considerable quantities. The cultivation of 
this plant is an exceedingly nice one, requiring 
careful preparation of the soil, and much atten- 
tion during its growth ; and the preparation for 
market is long and critical. The leaves must 
be cut at just the right moment, not too early, 
for then the color will be poor, or too late, 
for that will injure both quality and quantity. 
The leaves when cut are soaked in vats until 

102 



EARLY MARRIED LIFE 

they ferment, frotli, and give up tlieir coloring 
matter. The great art is to let this fermenta- 
tion go on just long enough to get the right 
color. The liquid is then drawn off into a 
second vat clear of the leaves, where it is beaten 
with paddles until it begins to thicken ; it is 
then led into a third vat and allowed to settle, 
when the clear water is drawn off. The sedi- 
ment is formed into lumps or cakes, and after 
being carefully dried in the shade it is ready 
for sale. 

It will be readily seen that all this required 
care and skill. While the fermentation is 
going on (a period of several days), it is watched 
night and day by relays of hands, and the 
head man, the " Indigo Maker," never leaves 
it. For this important position Governor 
Lucas sent out an overseer from the island of 
Montserrat, named Cromwell. He understood 
the processes, and built brick vats ; but to Miss 
Lucas's horror, the " lumps " which he pro- 
duced were of such inferior quality as to be 
almost worthless. 

He asserted that this w^as due to the climate. 
She, by close watching and careful experiment, 
found that he was mistaken, and found also 
where the fault lay. She dismissed Cromwell, 
and put his brother in his place, who was at 
first more successful. 

103 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

With true patriotism Miss Lucas devoted her 
whole crop of 1744 to making seed, for one 
great difficulty had been that she could not get 
the seed from the East Indies in time for the 
crop to ripen before a frost. This home-made 
seed she distributed as gifts to those planters 
who would undertake to try it. This was 
really liberal as the price of seed continued 
very high for years, as the following bill, four- 
teen years later, shows : — 

Mr Jacob Motte Jr 

1758 D.l to EoBERTSON & Baillie 

May 10. 8 bushels Indigo Seed at £10 £80 

Keceived in full 

KoBERTsoN & Baillie. 

By this gift many planters were induced to 
try the new plant. Some of the Huguenots 
who had seen the plant in France, and espe- 
cially Mr. Deveaux, already mentioned, were 
very successful in the preparation. As early as 
1744, a few months after her marriage, Mrs. 
Pinckney wrote to her father : — 

*^ We hear they have at Garden Hill the prospect 
of a very good crop; we gave particular orders to 
Murray about the seed which I am still in hopes 
will prove a valuable commodity. 

^'Out of a small patch of Indigo growing at 
104 



EARLY MARRIED LIFE 

Wappoo, (which Mama made a present to Mr P:) 
the Brother of jS"icholass Cromwell besides saving a 
quantity of Seed, made us 17 pounds of very good 
Indigo, so different from N-C's, that we are con- 
vinced he was a mere bungler at it. Mr Deveaux 
has made some likewise, and the people in genA 
very sanguine about it. Mr P. sent to England 
by the last man of warr 6 pounds to try how t'is 
aproved of there. If it is I hope we shall have a 
bounty from home, we have already a bounty of 
6^ currancy from this province upon it. We please 
ourselves with the prospect of exporting in a few 
years a good quantity from hence, and supplying 
our Mother Country with a manifacture for w"-^ 
she has so great a demand, and which she is now 
suppl3'd with from the French Collonys, and many 
thousand pounds per annum thereby lost to the 
nation, when she might as well be supplyd here, 
if the matter was applyd to in earnest.'' 

There are several letters from Governor 
Lucas on the subject; in some he suggests 
that the brick vats may be the cause of trouble, 
and that wood had better be tried. The truth 
was that the Cromwells were traitors. They 
purposely spoiled the " lumps," not choosing 
that the Carolina product should interfere with 
that of their native island of Montserrat. Gov- 
ernor Lucas then sent out a negro from one of 
the French islands, and soon the battle was 

won. 

105 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

In 1747 enough was made to make it worth 

while to export it to England for sale. Great 
Britain immediately offered a bounty of six- 
pence a pound, in order to exclude the French 
indigo from her markets. It is said that while 
this was paid the planters doubled their capital 
every three or four years. 

The first free school in the Province, outside 
of Charles Town was established in 1753 by 
the planters of Georgetown, who, to commemo- 
rate the source of their wealth, formed them- 
selves into a society called the " Winyah Indigo 
Society," at first merely a social club. The 
school, handsomely endowed and supported, 
survived the Revolution, and continued to 1865 
in great activity and usefulness. Hundreds of 
children have had cause to bless the jolly 
indigo planters, whose descendants, shorn of 
their wealth, still keep the name Independent 
Charity School for the Poor, and, according to 
their means, still support the school. 

Indigo continued the chief highland staple 
of the country for more than thirty years. 
After the Revolution it was again cultivated, 
but the loss of the British bounty, the rivalry 
of the East Indies with their cheaper labor, 
and the easier cultivation of cotton, all con- 
tributed to its abandonment about the end of 
the century. Just before the Revolution the 
106 



EARLY MAUniED LIFE 

annual export amounted to the enormous 
quantity of one million, one hundred and seven 
thousand, six hundred and sixty pounds ! 

When will any " New Woman " do more for 
her country ? 



107 



VII 

MOTHERHOOD 
1745-1748 

Long before the happy solution of the indigo 
question, in February, 1745, a little son was 
born to Colonel and Mrs. Pinckney. There 
had been some talk of her going to her mother 
in Antigua, but it was thought inexpedient, 
and Governor Lucas wrote to his son-in-law : — 

**I should have received great pleasure & happi- 
ness in yours & my Dear Daughter's company but 
as that at this time is Impracticable I must be 
content with my constant prayers for j^our Healths 
. . . neither Her Mama nor I have the least 
room to Doubt of yl utmost care & tenderness of 
Her, but on the Contrary have great Reason to 
Ke Joyce at her situation, & I assure you Sir, I have 
a just sence of the Blessing Providence has be- 
stowed on me in your Alliance. 

^'The hopes j^ou have of Mrs Woodward's Com- 
pany is a great addition to our satisfaction, & I 
pray you will make mine, & all My Family's best 
acknowledgements and Respects acceptable to her 
& her Family, My wife always expresses the 
108 



MOTHERHOOD 

warmest sentiments of her Friendship and duely 
retains the memory of her agreable neighbour- 
hood. ... I send you a kegg of green sweet- 
meats, & my wife sends my dear Child a pott of 
Ginger, a few pines & Cains, [sugar cane ?] &, if 
I can gett it on board in time, a b.l or two bottled 
Sweet wine & Perry & Cyder. . . . 

^'My wife writes to you by this conveyance. 
We are both now under great anxiety and pain for 
our Dear Daughter's welfare, but hope before this 
reaches you our Prayers will be heard, & she in 
Safety, than which nothing this side the Grave, 
can be more Joyfull to hear.'' 

The prayers were heard, and the young mother 
wrote joyfully to Miss Bar tie tt : — 

^' Since my last Heaven has blessed us with a fine 
little boy, and would you think it ? I could flatter 
myself so much as to believe I can discover all his 
Papa's virtues already dawning in him or would 
you imagine I could really be so fond a Mama so 
soon of a little babe of three months old, that I 
could go on to describe his fine black Eyes with a 
thousand beauties more till I filled my paper & 
tired you. ... I thank God I have no disorder 
but weakness, and I hope the Country air into 
w'^^ I am going will be a remedy for that. We 
have been threatened with an Indian warr, but I 
hope 'tis blown over. 

*']\rr P. joyns me in love to INIrs. B. in w*^.!* I 
should joyn our little Charles could he but lisp it." 
109 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

The little boy had been born, not at Belmont 
but in the house which his father had built some 
years before, and which he always called his 
" Mansion House." It stood (until the great 
fire of 1862) upon East Bay, half a square 
above Market Street. Colonel Pinckney owned 
much land in that neighborhood, and indeed 
the present market stands upon ground granted 
by his granddaughters to the city, " for that 
purpose only ; " but in 1745 Market Street 
was still a swampy creek. 

This house may be described here as having 
been a fine example of Colonial architecture. 
Only one such still exists in Charleston; that 
built a few years later, in the lower part of 
King Street, by Miles Brewton, which now be- 
longs to his collateral descendant. Miss Pringle. 
That is known to have cost X8000 ; from which 
we can judge the cost of Colonel Pinckney's, 
for they were much alike. Forty thousand dol- 
lars was a great sum in those modest days. 

The lot occupied the whole square from 
Market to Guignard Streets, on the western 
side of East Bay. The house stood in the 
centre, facing east to the water, and the ground 
across the street, down to the water's edge, also 
belonging to the family, was never built upon, 
but kept open for air and for the view. It was 
of small, dark, English brick, with stone copings, 
no 



MOTHERnOOD 

and stood on a basement containing kitchens 
and offices. It had, besides the basement, two 
stories, witli high slated roof, in which were 
wine and himber rooms. From the front to 
the back door was a wide flagged hall, into 
which four large rooms opened ; dining-room 
and bedroom to the south, library and house- 
keeper's room to the north. These two last 
were not as large as the southern rooms, for 
the staircase, partly accommodated by a projec- 
tion on the north side of the house, came down 
into a kind of side hall between them. The 
window on this staircase (one of the most re- 
markable features of the house) was very 
beautiful, of three arches with heavily carved 
frames, and a deep window-seat extending the 
whole length of the landing-place. On the 
second story were five rooms ; the large and 
small drawing-rooms occupying the whole east 
front of the house, the large one a very hand- 
some room, over thirty feet long, with high coved 
ceiling and heavy cornice, beautifully propor- 
tioned. At the back were bedrooms, and the 
staircase went on to the garrets above. 

The whole house was wainscoted in the 
heaviest panelling, the windows and doors with 
deep projecting pediments and mouldings in 
the style of Chamberlayne. The mantel-pieces 
were vei'y high and narrow, with fronts carved 
111 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

in processions of shepherds and shepherdesses, 
cupids, etc., and had square frames in the pan- 
elling above, to be filled with pictures. 

This house differed from those of later date 
in Carolina, by having the kitchen and offices 
in the basement, — an almost unknown thing 
there in after years, — and in the absence of 
extensive piazzas. In front there was only a 
high flight of stone steps with a small canopied 
porch, at the back a small piazza on the first 
floor only. A little way off, along the north- 
ern edge of the lot, was a long row of build- 
ings, servants' rooms in great number, stables, 
coach-house, etc. A vegetable garden was at 
the back, and grass plats with flower beds filled 
the southern part of the lot, one of the largest 
in the town. 

Of the plenishing of this handsome and 
convenient residence we know little. Mrs. 
Pinckney's mind does not seem to have dwelt 
on furniture or bric-a-brac. We know that 
Colonel Pinckney had what was then esteemed 
a fine library, a few books of which remain. 
There are one or two pieces of plate, solid and 
plain, a little India china, — tiny cups, and 
high-shouldered vases, — and a very few old- 
fashioned pieces of jewelry. Yery few things 
escaped the Revolution, but we may suppose that 
the furnishing was comformable to the house 
112 



MOTHERHOOD 

itself, and now and then there are hints of some 
article of comfort or elegance, as " re".'' a Marcels 
[Marseilles] bed and canopy cost 20 guineas." 
Mrs. Pinckney's real passions were garden- 
ing and reading, and one can but smile at the 
haste to educate the new baby : — 

To Mrs. Bartlett. 

Dear Madam, — It would be unpardonable to omit 
paying my duty to you by so good an opportunity as 
Mr Commissary Garden, a Gen'?? who has been 
Rector of C^^* Town twentj'^-six years, and whose 
conduct has gained him universal Esteem. He 
comes to Europe for his Health, and I am sure will 
deliver you this if 'tis in his power [that is, if Mr. 
Commissary were not captured on the voyagej 
and I Hatter myself will return me one by Xmas 
next from you. Since MrP's last to Mr B. Heaven 
has blest us with a son, and a fine boy it is ! May 
he inherit all his father's virtues, his good Sence, 
his sincere and generous mind, with all his sweet- 
ness of disposition. Shall I give you the trouble 
my dear Mad"! to buy him the new toy (a discrip- 
tion of w*^^ I inclose) to teach him according to Mr 
Lock's method (w*:!^ I have carefully studied) to 
play himself into learning. Mr Pinckney himself 
has been contriving a sett of toys to teach him his 
letters by the time he can speak, you perceive we 
begin by times for he is not yet four months old. 

My Pinckney desires his compliments etc etc 
May 20"? 1745. 

8 113 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

The toy seems to have been a success, for 
next year she writes to her sister Polly, then at 
school in England, — 

' Your little nephew not yet two and twenty 
months old prattles very intelligibly, he gives his 
duty to 3^ou and thanks for the toys and desires me 
to tell his aunt Polly if she don't take care and a 
great deal of pains in her learning, he will soon he 
the best scholar, for he can tell all his letters in 
any book without hesitation, and begins to spell 
before he is two year old. He begs you will 
accept of a moidore and a dollar out of his own 
mony to buy you some fruit at school, w':!^ I now 
send by Mr Pringle who will deliver you this. 
Mr Pinckne}^ is gone to his Estate at the South- 
ward or I know he would have made an addition 
to his son's present. Use all your diligence my 
dear Polly in improving yourself, which will be a 
singular pleasure to all your friends and particu- 
larly to . . ." 

It is a comfort to know that this pre- 
cocious infant took no harm ; but the Family 
Legend which duly records his cleverness, 
says that in after life (he became General 
Charles Cotcsworth Pinckncy) he always de- 
clared this early teaching to have been sad 
stuff, and that by haste to make him a clever 
fellow he had nearly become a very stupid one. 
Also, it says that he never allowed his own 

114 



MOTHERHOOD 

children to be taught until they had attained a 
reasonable age. / 

Motherhood brings graver thoughts than even 
spelling blocks and primers; and to this period 
belong a series of "Resolutions/^ found only 
very lately, in a little roll of sadly tattered 
papers, marked, " papers belonging to myself 
onely," and " if there is any mony with this when 
I dye 'tis to be given to the poor distressed." 
In the same roll are a number of private 
prayers ; some written upon many successive 
birthdays from youth to age, each renewing the 
solemn vows of devotion and submission made 
in the first ; others offered upon especial occa- 
sions of joy or sorrow ; never failing to " thank 
God in her weal or seek him in her woe ; " all 
breathing the same spirit of religion, truly but 
privately lifting her soul to God. 

Such outpourings of the spirit are not for the 
public eye, but the " Resolutions," Avhich belong 
to the sphere of practical piety, are given, to 
show the faith and views of duty of the 
southern woman of the day. They begin 
abruptly : 

I am rosolved by the Grace of God asisting me 
to keep these resolutions which I have frequently 
made, and do now again renew. 

I am rosolved to believe in God; that he U, and 
115 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

is a rewarder of all that diligently seek him. To be- 
lieve firml^^ and constantly in all his attribntes etc. 
etc. I am resolved to believe iu him, to fear him 
and love him with all the powers and faculties of 
my soul. To keep a steady eye to his commands, 
and to govern myself in every circumstance of life 
by the rules of the Gospel of Christ, whose disciple 
I profess myself, and as such will live and dye. 

I am resolved by the Divine will, not to be 
anxious or doubtful, not to be fearful of any acci- 
dent or misfortune that may happen to me or mine, 
not to regard the frowns of the world, but to keep 
a steady upright conduct before m}^ God, and before 
man, doing m^' duty and contented to leave the 
event to God's Providence. 

I am resolved by the same Grace to govern my 
passions, to endeavour constantly to subdue every 
vice and improve in every virtue, and in order to 
this I will not give way to any the least notions of 
pride, haughtiness, ambition, ostentation, or con- 
tempt of others. I will not give wa^^ to Env}^, 111 
will, Evil speaking, ingratitude, or uncharitable- 
ness in word, in thought, or in deed, or to passion 
or peavishness, nor to Sloath or Idleness, but to en- 
deavour after all the contrary Virtues, humility, 
charity, etc, etc, and to be alwaj's usefully or inno- 
cently imploy'd. 

I am resolved not to be luxurious or extravagant 

in the management of my table and family on 

the one hand, nor niggardly and covetous, or too 

anxiously conceru'd about it on the other, but to 

116 



MOTHERHOOD 

endeavour after a due medium; to manage with 
hospitality and Generosity as much as is in our 
power, to have always 2)leuty with frugality and 
good Economy. 

To he decent hut frugal in my own Expences. 

To he charitahly disposed to all mankind. 

I am resolved hy the Divine Assistance to lill the 
several Stations wherein Providence has placed me 
to the hest advantage. 

To make a good wife to my dear Hushand in all 
its several branches; to make all my actions Cor- 
rispond with that sincere love and Duty I hear 
him. To pray for him, to contribute all in my 
power to the good of his Soul and to the peace and 
satisfaction of his mind, to he careful of his Health, 
of his Interests, of his children, and of his Eeputa- 
tion; to do him all the good in m}^ power ; and next 
to ray God, to make it my Study to please him. 

I am resolved to make a good child to my Mother; 
to do all I am able to give her comfort and make 
her happy. 

I am resolved to be a good Mother to my children, 
to pray for them, to set them good examples, to 
give them good advice, to be careful both of their 
souls and bodys, to watch over their tender minds, 
to carefully root out the first appearing and budings 
of vice, aud to instill piety. Virtue and true reli- 
gion into them; to spair no paines or trouble to do 
them good; to correct their Errors whatever un- 
easiness it may give myself; and never omit to 
encourage every Virtue I may see dawning in them, 
117 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

I am resolved to make a good Sister both to my 
own and my Husband's brothers and sisters, to do 
them all the good I can, to treat them with affec- 
tion, kindness, and good-manners^ to do them all 
the good I can etc, etc. 

I am resolved to make a good Mistress to my 
Servants, to treat them with humanity and good 
nature; to give them sufhcient and comfortable 
clothing and Provisions, and all things necessary 
for them. To be careful and tender of them in 
their sickness, to reprove them for tlieir faults, to 
Encourage them when they do well, and pass over 
small faults; not to be tyrannical peavish or im- 
patient towards them, but to make tlieir lives as 
comfortable as I can. 

I am resolved to be a sincere and faithful friend 
wherever I professed it, and as much as in me lies 
an agreable and innocent companion, and a uni- 
versal lover of all mankind. 

All these resolutions by God's assistance I will 
keep to my life's end. 

So help me My God ! Amen. 

Eead over this dayly to assist my memoiy as to 
every particular contained in this paper. Mem. 
Before I leave my Chamber recolect in Genl. the 
business to be done that day. 



No human being probably ever succeeded 
in being and doing all this ; but the " dayly " 
118 



MOTIIERnOOD 

conning over of such purposes must at least 
liave prevented many of those faults of thought- 
lessness and self-indulgence, which make so 
much of the misery of life. The Scotch ju'o- 
verb says, " Aim at a gown of gold and you'll 
get a sleeve of it," and the story of Mrs. Pinck- 
ncy's life shows that her sleeve was a large 
one. 

At this time there is a correspondence be- 
tween Governor Lucas and Colonel Pinckney, 
illustrating some of the difficulties with which 
tlic Colonists had to contend. One of these 
was the depreciation of their money. 

The Province had gone to war largely at its 
own cost, and Indians, Florida expeditions, etc., 
had made that cost heavy. To meet these 
expenses it had issued paper money ; thence 
came the usual train of evils. Sterling was of 
course the standard in all British dominions 
but English coins were scai'ce, and the Spanish 
and French were of varying values in the dif- 
ferent provinces. 

Queen Anne had issued a proclamation, fix- 
ing the value of the pistoles, do'ubloons, etc., at 
the same rate in all the colonies. The tor- 
mented people had to keep constantly in mind 
whether they were buying and selling by ster- 
ling, proclamation money, or currency. Cur- 
rency, the paper of the Colony itself, was some- 

119 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

times as low as ten pounds of the bills for one 
pound sterling, but the average value was seven 
for one. Proclamation money, used for inter- 
colonial trafiic, fines, etc., was at the rate of 
one for five. 

It seems remarkable that business went on 
at all. The trouble entered into every detail 
of life ; hardly a letter or note of Miss Lucas 
to her father failed to mention " our exchange 
is now seven to one ; " " there is now a fall 
in bills of exchange," etc. At this time, 1745, 
things seem to have been particularly bad ; 
the war kept the rates of freight very high, and 
as the exports of Carolina were bulky articles 
the planters suffered. Mrs. Pinckney wrote 
that " linning " and things of that sort were 
" excessive dear," and that " Mr. Murray has 
sent down 50- rice and 100*- tarr w'^-^ is applyd 
to pay off part of the plantation expences and 
delivered to Messrs Shubrick. Tis a melon- 
choly time with the poor planters, those that 
are in debt have no hopes of extricating them- 
selves, for rice was never so low as now, 
tis at 15' ready money and 20! hhd, the pay- 
ment of debts." In one letter Governor Lucas 
actually says that the cultivation of rice will 
probably be abandoned, it had become so 
unprofitable. 

One letter shows a scheme for owning a ves- 

120 



MOTHERHOOD 

sel to be freighted each way with the products 
of their own phintations ; the rice, kimber, etc., 
of Carolina, to be exchanged for the rinn, sugar, 
and coffee of the West Indies. Colonel Pinck- 
ney had proposed this plan and Governor Lucas 
answers. These letters, it may be observed, 
are written in the most beautiful flowing hand, 
upon heavy gilt-edged paper, and the only word 
very peculiarly spelled is " Ruff-Rice ! " 

GovL Lucas to Col. Pinckney 

I observe the uncertainty of getting the Eice to 
market, & I approve of the method you propose in 
storing it for aConveniency of Shipping, which ere 
now I hope you have mett with in the schooner 
Charming Nancy mentioned in my last. 

I take notice you say the Ruff rice is at 2^ per 
busliell & if the Clean was but at [illegible] Procla- 
mation Money per Ton, the whole would amount but 
to £ 59-6-8. whereas the Bill of Lading mentions 
£ 61. The Extravagance of Freight takes up a 
great part of the Produce, and inclines me to 
Pursue the Scheme you mention of my being con- 
cerned in a Yessell, but I have not yett had an 
opportunity to consult Cap*. Grant, thereon, «& if 
he would hold a part, & yow will hold a third, I 
will take the first opportunity of purchasing one 
of the burthen you recommend. My own Experi- 
ence convinces me of the Unprofitableness of 
Vessells in common; but as we are both planters 
& Freight is now in Time of Warr at so high a 
121 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

rate, it must turn out advantageous in a certain 
conveniency of exporting our heavy produce, & what 
will be beneficial to me, must be so to jow, as you 
will not be in merch*^? hands and liable to the 
delays and expences incident to Trade. Besides 
from my Interests and Friendships here, I can be 
instrumental in Freight from this Island, w^^.l^ is 
not commonly mett with. ... I have computed 
the amount of the Clean rice at 15 per c-, & the 
E-uff at 5* per bushel & find I shall gain upon the 
whole above a hundred pounds Carolina Currency 
besides paying freight & insurance, w*"- is consid- 
erable upon about a hundred «& eighty odd pounds, 
your money. 

If I purchase a Vessell it will be necessary to 
have boards and staves and shingles, ready to give 
her despatch when grain is not to be had, & in 
order thereto you will please to order such Lumber 
to be sett about shortly. 

Ill another letter Governor Lucas refers to 
a mortgage on liis Carolina property which he 
hopes soon to pay off, and also directs frames 
for negro houses and planks to be got out at 
Garden Hill to be sent to Antigua, and a 
" pettiauger " or canoe, all showing the scarcity 
of wood in the islands. He continues : — 

*^ We have been greatly Allarmed for about Two 
Months past at the arrival of Mons. Caylus, with 
a large squadron of Men of Warr, & some regular 
122 



MOTIIERIIOOD 

Troops, Intended to invade us from Martinique, 
during w*^- time Gen J. Mathevv remained at S.'. 
Christopliers & left me the Defence of this Island, 
in providing for w*^- I have spared no Pains, & I 
tliink we may now say, we have Sanguine hopes of 
Eepulsing any attempt they can make. His Ex'rf 
arrived some days ago and we have now a Rein- 
forcement of Men of Warr, which I hope will 
enable our little Squadron to look abroad. Tliey 
have been for some time shut up in English 
Harbour, The Fleet arrived but yesterday, so I am 
not yet particularl}^ Informed of their Strength. . . 
Tlie Assembly has made no Settlement on me, nor 
can I Expect it, when I consider they gave my 
Predecessor Gov- Byam no Settlement, whose 
Superior Merit seemed more to claim it, Tho' I 
have the pleasure to say the People have generally 
Approved my Conduct, since I have had the Honour 
of being their Governour, & particularly of my late 
Endeavours for the publick Safety. 

*^I send by Cap^. Cooper a Hhd of Clarett & a 
Hhd of Porter, & hope they will both prove good 
and worth yJ. Acceptance. 

^< Antigua May 22'?.'^ 1745.--'' 

The little boy had been born in February, 
and the grandparents had not yet heard of 
their *' Dear Betsey's " safety. 

To this Colonel Pinckney answers, but not 
until August : — 

123 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

Honourable Sir 

Tho T have hardly half an hour's notice of this 
Vessells sailing, I cannot omit the opportunity of 
acknowledgeing the receipt of and returning you 
my thanks for 3^our favours of the 22'?.'^ of May & 
12*.!^ of July last — which were the more agreahle 
as we had been in great pain for you upon the 
account of the ffrench Squadron at Martinico. 

He gives a poor account of the sale of the 
West Indian produce, and does not encourage 
further ventures. Thus this amateur trading 
does not seem to have been very profitable. 
Governor Lucas did better as a planter and 
experimentalist. His daughter evidently got 
her taste from him. He writes : — 

^^As I am pretty well assured Land may he 
found with you. to produce Flax and Hemp I 
shall order Seed by the first Vessell from Philadel- 
phia, and request j^ou will order ground to be pre- 
pared for it, in hopes it may be arrived before 
Spring is over. 

^^I send by this Sloop two Irishe servants, viz.% 
a Weaver & a Spinner, Indentured here at £10 
Sterling pF. Annum, & as I am informed Mr Cat- 
tle has produced both Flax & Hemp I pray you 
will purchase some of the latter & order a loom 
and spinning wheel to be made for them, & sett 
them to worke, but lest it should not be to be had 
in Carolina I shall order Flax to be sent from 
124 



MOTHERHOOD 

Philadelphia with the seed, that they may not bo 
Idle. I pray you will alsoe purchase wool and Sett 
them to making negroes Cloathing w^^ may be 
sufficient for my own People & the overplus to be 
sold. I have also agreed with two more women 
Spinners and a man Labourer (who I found in- 
clined to go to Carolina) to pay their Passages w^^ 
is four pounds four shil. this Currency each, they 
to serve any master or mistress inclin'd to employ 
Them «& out of their Wages to repay you the said 
sums, or to serve me a year unless they can other- 
wise raise money to pay their Passages — ... 

*' As I am afraid one Spinner can't keep a loom 
at Worke I pray you will order a Sensible negro 
woman or two if necessary to learn to spin «& wheels 
to be made for tliem, the man Servant will direct a 
Carpenter in making the loom, and the woman will 
direct the wheel." 

Flax and hemp were never grown to any ex- 
tent in the low country of Carolina, but the 
experiments must have interested many. They 
certainly increased the varied labors of the 
plantation and added to the affairs of which 
Mrs. Pinckney was the head, and the hard- 
working Mr. Murray the guiding hand. Some 
of Mr. Murray's letters arc given here, to show 
how varied these labors were. It must be re- 
membered that he was the overseer of Colonel 
Lucas's plantation, and had long been in con- 
sultation with Mrs. Pinckncv. The letters were 

125 



ELIZA FINCKNEY 

sent by the "boat;" viz. the sloop or schooner 
which, coasting along through inlets and creeks, 
conveyed the rice and other crops to market 
at Charles Town. They are sometimes ad- 
dressed to Colonel Pinckney, and sometimes to 
" Madam Pinckney, at her House in Charles- 
town." 

^' Having an opportunity of a boat have sent 
Barbuda [probably a West Indian negro] for we 
are entirely out of salt and physick, the last two 
Vials were not good it took two Dozes to make one. 

" Please send some Turpintine and two pair cotten 
cards, we shall have Cotten to make a good part of 
the cloaths but a grate deal of trouble for want of a 
gine. The indigo is not dry cannot give an account 
of how much there is the rice suffers much for want 
of raine. There are fourteen Stears fit for marlvet. 
Please let me knowe what you would have done 
with them, for there are so many hunters about 
they drive them out of the range and I shall lose 
them 

^^ We are now at work upon yo, Roads. I went to 
Mr John Hunt last January to know where we 
should pay y^ worke we ood — ; he told me I must 
not work when I pleased, when he thought conven- 
ient heed lett me know, Sent me word by Mr 
Metear about y° 16*- of April to come pay ye work, 
but being about planting could not goe. Last 
week they gave the constable an Execution, but 
before it was served we paid the work. We have 
126 



MOTHERHOOD 

sent 21 (locks & 12 young fouls, tliere are so 
many a\ ild cats and foxes we cannot keep any stock 
for Avant of good dogs. Please send some hand 
saw files — August 1744." 

The latter part of this letter refers to an an- 
noyance still complained of, wherever, as in 
most of the southern states, the road commis- 
sioners have authority to call out the whole able- 
bodied population to work the roads, quite 
regardless of agricultural crises. 

"June comes for thread, for the negroes are in 
want of their Cloaths. Please send a Cooper's 
broad ax for Sogo. it must be turned for the left 
hand, Smith Dick knows how to doe it, and a 
Cross Iron. Mr Greene came for ye Indigo Seed, 
he said he will deliver ye bow-Sprit and the ring 
for the mast and £18 cash upon delivery of 3'e 
Seed. I have got GO bushels of Indigo Seed Ready, 
hopes to have 20 bushels more but have not time 
to get it out, for I have Some Eice in the feild, 
Pompey has been very bad Twise with the Plurisy 
& I could not get the new barn finished being 
obleeged to take Sogo to make barrells. Oct- 1745." 

" Sogo " (probably, from the name, a native 
African) was the plantation cooper, Dick and 
Pompey blacksmith and carpenter, June the 
" patroon " or captain of the boat, — all these 
and other trades were carried on, on all well 
ordered places. 

127 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

The next letter evidently refers to the Irish 
spinner and the weaver who had been sent from 
Antigua by Governor Lucas. 

April, 1746. 

I have inquired for wool but can find none in 
our parts, the woman has spun what wool She 
brought up, has nothing to doe. 

Sogo made a loom for the man but he wants 
talde. Mr Gomans has got a quill wheel by liim, 
the price three pound, he can make any thing that 
is wanting. If you please to Send two pound of 
Shoemakers' thread I will endevour to make har- 
niss for him. Please let me know what provisions 
j'-ou will alow them 

We have been in great confusion about the Indi- 
ans, the negroes were in such dread of them I 
could not make them mind their work. 

I can find no account of any particular In- 
dian troubles in 1746, but the Yamassees and 
other tribes hung like a cloud on the outskirts 
of the southern settlements, and doubtless 
there were many alarms. 

Jany 1747 

The boat came here ye 1611' in ye morning brought 
two half hides, two Iron Ladles, one I have Ee- 
turned it is too short, & no Socket for a Handel. 
They sett out next morning, carries 50 bis. Rice, 
two dear, I would have sent some Torkies but find 
ye man a Stranger to ye Southard parts. There 
are 100 bis Tarr at ye landing since Christmass 
128 



MOTHKRIIOOD 

week in Expectation of Col. Blake's boat & 50 
more read}'- to roll. . . . The kiln of 40 foot is 
finishd but cannot burn it for want of blls. 

The hides were for the plantation shoe and 
harness market, the iron ladles for the indigo 
vats ; the kiln must have been for burning 
oyster-shell lime, such as was made all along 
the coast, the shells being sometimes taken 
from old heaps, said to be the relics of Indian 
feasts. This must have been a strange boat, 
whose patroon, unknown to " the Suthard,** 
could not be trusted with such tempting freight 
as "Torkies" at Christmas time. 

Jan-Y.27'M747 

The boat brings 30 blls Rice 5 lb Benne 4 Gesse 
[geese]. Please send 18 broad hoes, a grindstone, 
10 fatliom rope, old rope for ocum, some Salt, 2 
pair of grains for to Straike Sturgeon to make oil 
for the Indigo, etc., etc. 

June 1747 

This comes by the man that wove the negro 
Cloath, he wove 142 yards and James Watt wove 
44 for him. If you have any wool please send it 
up before the cotton is ripe. 

Thus we see that the weaving had made 

good progress, but it is wool and cotton, not 

flax and hemp, that are used. The " sensible 

negro w^omen " learned the art very well, and 

9 129 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

excellent cloth continued to be woven on the 
plantations in the low country (as it still is 
in some of the upper districts), until compara- 
tively recent times. 

Besides attending to all this business, Mrs. 
Pinckney had, at this busy period of her life, 
her new domestic cares, and the social duties 
which her husband's position demanded of her, 
to occupy her; and moreover she had under- 
taken at Belmont the cultivation of silk. 

Silk had been one of the earliest things pro- 
posed for the new Colony. Wine and silk 
Charles 11. had expected from the Huguenots, 
and why no wine seems ever to have been made, 
until within the last thirty or forty years, is 
strange. Of silk great things had been hoped. 
Sir Nathaniel Johnson had called his place 
" Silk Hope ; " and " Mulberry," the name of the 
beautiful home of the Broughtons, indicates the 
same idea. Mulberry-trees had been planted, 
silkworm eggs imported, and a good deal of 
silk is said to have been produced. 

The truth was that other industries paid 
better. It had fallen out of fashion and was 
neglected when Mrs. Pinckney took it up. She 
sent for eggs, paid great attention to the proper 
drying of the cocoons, and continued it for 
many years as an occupation for those of her 
people who could do no other work. The negro 

130 



MOTHERHOOD 

children gathered the mulberry leaves and fed 
the worms ; she and her maids wound or 
" reeled " the silk. She got so much of the 
raw silk at this time, that on going to England 
some years later she had three beautiful dresses 
woven of it. 

One of these she presented to the Princess 
Dowager of Wales (mother of George III.)? 
one to Lord Chesterfield who had befriended 
the Colony, and tlie third, a lustrous gold- 
colored brocade, owned by her granddaughter 
in the fourth degree, is still greatly admired 
when produced for exhibition. 

Colonel Lucas did not give up his idea easily. 
" If the Flax & Hemp " (he writes again in 
December, 1746^ " is found to answer very 
well, I will write to England to procure a 
Dutch family or two to be sent to Carolina for 
that manifacture — Li the mean time I think 
Rice not to be neglected, as I imagine it will be 
dropped by many, w'> must lessen the quantity 
and perhaps increase the Value, Especially if it 
should Please God to send us a Peace soon." 

There were hopes of peace, for the English 
had had some signal successes, and all parties 
were known to be tired of the war. Governor 
Lucas writes : — 

'^ Admiral Townsend mett off INIartiniqiie a 
Fleet of forty two Sails of Merchantmen under Con- 
131 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

voy of a 74 & a 64 Gun Shi pp. He took, burnt 
and destroyed thirty saile of the Merchantmen & 
run the two Men of Warr on Shoar, but they are 
since got off — & we hear they are Joyn.*^ by 6 
more men of War from old France, but our Squad- 
ron is now so strong as to give us no apprehensions 
from them." 

A month later he writes : — 

*^ Admiral Townsend's Success did not prove so 
advantageous as Expected; he took 15 Saile, some 
of them Small Merchantmen, four or five of them 
sold here but I could not find a Drinkable Caske of 
Claret among them. He was so farr from making 
further pursuit after the Ships bound to S- Domingo 
(w^!' indeed was not in his power) that he lay 
Supinely at Barba?. a long time & wholy neglected 
our Trade & all other The King's Service. 

^^ He left us here two days ago with all the Ships 
he brought with him, & if the Commadore re- 
maining takes no more care to keep Cruisers out 
for the Protection of the Merchantmen great Losses 
must happen; a French Flagg of Truce a month 
ago, and an English one w^^ returned yesterday 
from Martinique, have between them bro?. near a 
hundred prisoners taken out of trading vessels." 

Governor Lucas's letters at this time relate 

to war matters and to his hopes for the success 

of flax and hemp in Carolina. Peace did not 

come for two years more, and before it did 

182 



MOTHERHOOD 

Governor Lucas was dead. The poor gentle- 
man never realized his wish, often expressed, 
of " ending his days in Carolina when his time 
of service should have expired," for he died 
very suddenly in 1747, the very year in which 
the success of the indigo (in which he had 
had " so many disappointments,") was assured. 
It is to be hoped that he had heard that good 
news before he passed away ! 

Governor Lucas's death was a great shock 
to his daughter ; " they kept it from me," she 
says, " and I discovered it by accident." The 
result was a severe illness, and the loss of her 
second child. There are a few lines of pathetic 
lament for father and babe, and then no more 
letters for several years ; only a memorandum. 

" Wrote to Mrs Allen concerning the Re- 
bellion," — this, the only notice of " the '45," 
and the loss of the last hope of the House of 
Stuart. 



13^ 



VIII 
VISIT TO ENGLAND 

1752-1758 

Events now occurring in the Province had 
considerable influence upon Mrs. Pinckney's 
life. Throughout the Colonial history of South 
Carolina, there were frequent conflicts of 
authority ; sometimes between the people and 
their governors, sometimes between the gover- 
nors and the " boards " or " councils " in Eng- 
land, by whom they were controlled. Jobs are 
by no means a growth of this present age, and 
Colonel Pinckney now became the victim of 
one. The account of this transaction, given in 
the Life of General Thomas Pinckney, is sub- 
stantially as follows : 

Colonel Pinckney was at this time the most 
prominent lawyer in the Province, and greatly 
respected and beloved by his fellow-citizens. 
Chief Justice Graeme dying, Governor Glenn 
appointed Mr. Pinckney to succeed him. The 
appointment was generally approved, and no 
doubt was entertained of its confirmation by 
the King, George II. But in the meanwhile it 
134 



VISIT TO ENGLAND 

became necessary for tlie Enolish Ministers to 
provide a place for one of their adherents, 
Peter Leigh, and they began to look around for 
a good position for him. Mr. Pinckney had, at 
this moment, held the office and performed the 
duties of Chief Justice of the Colony for about 
a year, but by some oversight his commission 
had not yet received the royal assent. The 
Ministers took advantage of the omission, super- 
seded Mr. Pinckney, and conferred the posi- 
tion upon Leigh, setting aside the governor's 
nomination. 

Much indignation was felt ; well grounded, 
because Leigh, although a man of family and 
fashion, does not appear to have been Mr. 
Pinckney's equal in legal acquirement ; and 
his character did not commend itself to hon- 
orable minds. It was an early instance of 
that "Ministerial Tyranny" (by no means to 
be charged upon his blameless Majesty) which 
was to work such woe in after years. 

Mr. Pinckney's fellow-citizens now offered 
him the position of Commissioner of the Colony 
in London ; the medium of communication be- 
tween the royal governor and the House of 
Assembly of the Province, and the " boards " 
and " Lords of Trade and of Plantations " 
in London. The salary attached to this office 
was small, only two hundred pounds a year, but 



ELIZA PIN CRN EY 

it was esteemed a dignified position, almost a 
ministerial one, and Chief Justice Pinckney's 
fortune was sufficiently ample to enable him to 
accept it without inconvenience. I may observe 
here that, notwithstanding the absence of the 
royal assent, Mr. Pinckney is always spoken 
of as " Chief Justice Pinckney," in all subse- 
quent publications. 

He accepted the commission willingly, for 
he had long wished to revisit England. His 
elder brother, dying some years before, had 
left him a small landed estate near Durham, 
which required his attention, and, young as his 
sons were, he wished to place them at English 
schools. 

There were by this time (1753) another 
son, " Tomm," and a little girl, Harriott, 
(named, the family tradition says, after " Miss 
Harriott Byron," the fashionable heroine of 
the day), and we have already seen how early 
these good people believed tliat education might 
begin. The Colonies were now in a flourishing 
condition, for the peace of Aix la Chapelle, 
concluded in 1748, had set commerce free, and 
Carolina, with no hindrance to her exports, and 
with her large production of rice and indigo, 
was growing rich rapidly. 

It was a convenient moment for the departure ; 
and yet there seems to have been some regret 

13G 



VISIT TO ENGLAND 

in Mr. Pinckiiey's mind. Subsequent letters 
show that he felt himself injured by the actions 
of some of his countrymen. There are never 
wanting those who will at all times support the 
a[)pointee of a government, especially when, 
as in this case, he has novelty and fashion to 
recommend him. There must have been some 
bitterness in his adieus to his native country, 
to which he was ardently attached, and to 
whose service he intended to devote his sons. 
There are some pretty little stories in the 
Family Legend so often quoted, of his walking 
about the small town holding his eldest seven- 
year-old boy by the hand, pointing out to him 
the first heavily loaded, white-topped wagon that 
came down from the up-country, and saying, 
" Before you are a man, Charles, twenty wagons 
may come." His son, to the end of his long life, 
seldom saw any mark of progress or improve- 
ment in the place, without saying, " How much 
pleasure it would have given my Father!" 
Everything that we read of this gentleman 
(the Chief Justice) is honest, cordial, and 
kind ; and we cannot help a feeling of regret 
that his long anticipated visit to England 
should have been dimmed by this vexation at 
parting. 

Of this disagreeable business there is not one 
word in Mrs. PInckncy's letters. Was it that 

lo7 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

she had thoroughly laid to heart her father's 
advice not to interfere in affairs whicli were 
her husband's ; or did she think that in a 
matter of vexation and dispute among men, a 
woman's silence is more than golden ? We 
cannot tell her reasons, for not a syllable 
escapes her on the subject, but she was de- 
lighted at going " Home," as she might well 
feel England to be ; having spent so much of 
her youth there. 

Before leaving Carolina, however, the Pinck- 
neys were to undergo a frightful experience. 
They had, in preparation for departure, let 
their house on the Bay to Governor Glenn, and 
were living in another not very far from it in 
EUory Street. On the morning of the 11th of 
September, 1752, a terrible hurricane, thought 
to have been the most severe that has ever 
visited Charleston, broke upon the town. The 
weather had been threatening for several days, 
and the people were apprehensive. At nine 
o'clock that morning, when the tide should 
have been at the lowest, the water stood liigher 
than at most spring tides. Then the wind 
arose, lashing the waves to fury, and the 
whole town became a raging sea. The wharves 
were broken up, the wall of the bastions de- 
stroyed, and the platform with the guns floated 
seaward. There was terrible damage to the 

138 



VISIT TO ENGLAND 

shipping, the Hornet sloop-of-war alone riding 
out the gale ; many houses fell, and many lives 
were lost. In one case, out of a family of 
twelve only two were saved, and those two 
drifted in opposite directions from their home 
in Church Street, one being " taken in at the 
window of a house in Broad Street," the other 
floating entirely across the harbor into a tree 
on the opposite shore. This is from the ac- 
count of an eye-witness, Mr. Lamboll, published 
by Dr. Ramsay. 

The Pinckneys' house, a wooden one, was 
thought to be in great danger, — the water being 
four feet deep in the rooms ; and Uv. Pinckney 
determined to remove his family by boat. 
They were put into a yawl from one of the 
ships, and the short but perilous voyage was 
safely accomplished. They went to the house 
of a friend on the ridge that runs across the 
town nearly a mile from the point. 

The house on the Bay bore the mark of this 
hurricane as long as it stood ; for a pilot boat, 
borne on the waves, battered down the hand- 
some flight of stone steps leading to the first 
floor, and made with her bowsprit a small 
breach in the southeast corner of the house. 
The damages were of course repaired, but Mr. 
Pinckney made the workmen omit three or 
four bricks from the outer layer to show the 
139 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

spot where the blow had been received, and 
they were never replaced. The scar, if it may 
be so called, was just below the second story 
window, at least five and twenty feet from the 
p^round, — a height probably accounted for not 
only by the depth of water and height of waves, 
but by the upward toss of the vessel and its 
slanting bowsprit. 

This danger so impressed Mrs. Pinckney 
that she makes especial mention of it in one of 
those papers of private devotion already re- 
ferred to. She writes : — 

''Besides those apointed by the Church the 
following days are sett apart to be remembered 
with the utmost Gratitude and Thankfulness to 
Almighty God, by me, for great and particular 
mercies received, and to be spent in devotion and 
meditation on the Goodness of God to me and 



The days so commemorated are her wedding- 
day and the birthdays of her husband and chil- 
dren ; the day on which one of the latter was 
" restored to life and health when he was in 
appearance dead or dying," etc. ; also 

'^ The ll'l' Sept.% new stile, the da}^ of the great 
Hurricane in 1752 when our whole family was 
mercifully preserved from the great danger we 
were then in." 

140 



VISIT TO ENGLAND 

In the March following Ihcy sailed for Eng- 
land, and arrived after a "short" passage of 
thirty days. 

" 'T is good to be in England now that April 's there," 

sings the poet rejoicing in the spring time ; and 
we can fancy Mrs. Pinckney echoing the senti- 
ment. 

In those days of small ships and cramped 
cabins a long voyage must have been a dismal 
thing, and the Atlantic has its horrors even 
when no hurricane is blowing. Mrs. Pinckney 
was but a poor sailor, and in her first letter she 
says to her friend Mrs. Woodward : " We ar- 
rived in twenty five days after we left Charles 
Town Barr. Never poor wretch suffered more, 
that escaped with life than 1 did, notwithstand- 
ing we had so fine a passage." 

They did not land at Portsmouth, however, 
but went round to the Thames, for on the very 
threshold of England that dread disease, the 
small-pox, met them. " Portsmouth, Gosport, 
and Southampton " were full of it, therefore 
they went immediately to London, and without 
loss of time hired a house at Richmond "'for 
the innoculation." 

How dreaded the small-pox was then, one 
must read the old memoirs to understand. 
They are full of the loathsome details; as when, 

141 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

twenty years after this, Louis XV. 's courtiers 
fled from the horrid corpse to which they did 
not dare to do their duty ! The remedy, inoc- 
ulation, was still comparatively a new thing, 
for scarcely thirty years had passed, since 
pretty, witty I^ady Mary Wortley Montagu, had 
dared the danger for her own son, and brought 
the secret from Turkey. It was opposed by 
the doctors as an added danger, and by tlie 
clergy as an interference with the will of 
Providence, as chloroform was opposed within 
the memory of persons now living. 

It was not an unmixed blessing, for the 
patients were sometimes very sick, and some 
few died, — still, when successful it gave com- 
plete immunity, and saved innumerable lives. 

When it became common in Carolina, the 
custom was for a party of young people, perhaps 
five or six girls together, to receive the virus 
at the same time, be shut up with the mothers 
of one or two of the party and attendant 
nurses, and go through all the stages in com- 
pany ; thus confining the risk of contagion to 
one house, and alleviating the tediousness of 
the necessary isolation. Often the sickness 
was only severe enough to keep them in bed 
for two or three days ; the rest of the time 
(about six or eight weeks) they drank tea, 
gossiped, lounged about in " dishabille," and 
142 



VISIT TO ENGLAND 

kept each other merry ; emerging sometimes 
with a scar or two, but safe, as tliey tlioiight, 
for life. Somewhere in one of Miss Mitford's 
sketches there is an account of much the same 
tiling in England. In 1753 it was still some- 
wiiat dreaded, and Mrs. Pinckney w^as very 
happy when she could announce a happy termi- 
nation to her anxiety. 

^^ Mem. Wrote to Lady Nesbit [her old scbool- 
friend, Miss Parry] from Ricbmond, as ber Lady- 
sliip was so obliging as to make me promise I 
would do, to ac(|uaint ber bow our cbildreu got 
through the Innoculation." 

Also to her sister : — 

D' Polly, — I must write if but two lines, in 
hopes tbey will produce two more from you — w*^.*? 
I do asure you will be as acceptable and almost 
as great a rarity as a cake of ice w'^. be from yoxxv 
regions of perj^etual summer. 

And to her mother and brotliers also in An- 
tigua, all by Colonel Talbott, " who was so 
considerate as to give me a months' notice of 
his sailing," 

Wlien this important business was over, Mrs. 
Pinckney desired, as a loyal subject, perhaps 
still more as an American woman, to see what 
there was of Royalty. At that time Caroline 
of Anspach, the Queen of George II. (or more 

143 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

vividly, the Queen of Jeannie Deans), had been 
dead for some years. Her son, Frederick, 
Prince of Wales, had also died in 1751, and 
old George held a disreputable conrt, with 
many disreputable women. The widowed Prin- 
cess of Wales lived privately with her large 
young family at Kew, and altliough, through 
the jealousy of the King, allowed but little 
state, represented all thr.t there then was of 
decency in the Royalty of England. To her, 
therefore, Mrs. Pinckney desired to " pay her 
duty," and the following letter gives a curious 
and minute account of the visit. This letter 
is not in \\w. " letter book," but on a few pages 
evidently lorn from the lost one. There is no 
addi-ess, and one or two pieces are torn off. 
Thus it begins abruptly : — 

We had the Honour not long since to carry 
our little girl, to joresent the Princess Augusta with 
some birds from Carolina. It was attended with 
great difficulty as the attendance about the Prin- 
cess are extreamly causious who the}" admit to her 
presence. We mentioned our desire to see the 
Boyal family and to have our little girl present 
the birds ... to a gentleman here [Richmond] 
who we know to be well acquainted with some 
about the Princess, he very readih^ undertook it, 
and next day went to Kew where the Princess of 
Wales and all her family reside during the Summer 
144 



VISIT TO ENGLAND 

Season; they gave tlie Princess a Prodigious Char- 
acter, and said they would mention it to her Koyal 
Highness; but let him know at the same time how 
great a favour they did him, by saying it was a 
thing very rarely permitted, especially to those 
they were not acquainted with, least they sh.^ have 
anything to ask afterwards which miglit be trouble- 
some to the Princess; but they depended upon 
him, that he would not introduce any persons but 
such as were proper to be presented to her Koyal 
Highness. 

The Gent""" said his own Character was so much 
concernd in the case, that he should not presume 
to mention any but such as he knew to be persons 
of Character and Distinction in the Country from 
whence they came, as this Gent™." was ; that he was 
one of his Majesty's Council of So. Carolina, had 
nothing to ask, but was desirous to show the 
affection he had to his Majesty, and all his Koyal 
House, and his inclination to see the Family; that 
his Majest}'- had himself taken partic- notice of 
him, and honoured him with a Conference since his 
arrival; upon w"'- (this last especially) they said 
they would let the Princess know. 

They returnd and said the Princess would see 
us, and we were desired to go at Eleven o'clock any 
day the next week, w*:^ in a few days we did; we 
exceeded our time a little and we found the Princess 
gone a airing with the Princess Augusta, and it 
was uncertain when she would return. We carried 
the birds in the Coach with us, and wrote a card to 
10 145 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

give the child in her hand, in case we should not 
go in with her. The card was this. 

^'Miss Harriott Pinckney, daughter of Charles 
Pinckney Esq--, one of His Majesty's Council of 
South Carolina, pays her duty to her Highness and 
humbly begs leave to present her with an Indigo 
bird, a Nonpareil, and a yellow bird, w'^.^ she has 
brought from Carolina for her Highness." 

One of the attendance upon the Princess 
Augusta came to the coach, and said she was very 
sorry it happened so, but if we would come the 
next day a little earlier we should see the Princess, 
or if we did not chuse do that, or would rather 
leave the birds, the Princess would be sure to hear 
of us, and to have them ; w??" last we did, and left 
the Card alsoe, and returned home, lamenting as 
we went the uneasy situation of those who had 
favours to ask or are dependance on a Court ! _ 

At night we had a message, that the Princess 
Augusta would be glad to see Miss Pinckney at 
one o'clock the next day; [Miss Pinckney cannot 
have been more than seven years old]. We accord- 
ingly went in full dress, and were desired to sit in 
a parlour where we were rec*^. by an old lady, a for- 
eigner, till the Princess should know we were 
there. This Lady told us the Princess was very 
sorry she was out yesterday when we [illegible] the 
Princess was not quite dressed. 

After we had sett some minuets a Gen*" came 
in and desired we would follow him, we w^ent 
through 3 or 4 grand r<:)oms of the Princess of Wales 
146 



VISIT TO ENGLAND 

appartment till we arrived at her dressing room, 
where we were received in a manner that surprized 
us, for tho' we had heard how good a woman the 
Princess of Wales was, and how very affable and 
easy, her behaviour exceeded every thing 1 had 
heard or could imagine. 

She came forward and received us at the door 
herself, with Princess Augusta, Princess Elizabeth, 
Prince William, and Prince Henry. She mett us 
with all the chearfulness and pleasure of a friend 
who was extreamly glad to see us; she gave us no 
time to consider how to introduce ourselves or to 
be at a loss what to say, for she with an air of 
benignity told us as soon as we entered she was 
very glad to see us, took Harriott by the hand and 
kissed her, asked her how she liked England, to 
w?.^ she answered, not so well as Carolina, at w':^ the 
Princess laughd a good deal, and said it was very 
natural for such a little woman as she to love her 
own Country best. She thanked her for the birds, 
and said she was afraid one of them might be a 
favourite of hers ; spoke Yexy kindly sometimes to 
JNIr Pinckney, sometimes to me, and then to the 
Child. 

Mr Pinckney told her she had made us very 
happy in the honour she was pleased to bestow upon 
us, etc. 

She introduced the Princes and Princesses 

that were with her to us, and told us we should 

seethe rest presently; inquired how long we had 

been from Carolina, whether I was not frightened 

147 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

with the voyage, how the Children bore it, how 
many we had, what their ages, sons or daughters, 
whether Carolina was a good country whether we 
had a good Governor, to w'r^ we replied in the 
affirmative. 

She said she was sure the King was all ways 
pleased when his provinces had good governors; 
enquired the Governor's name, and said she had 
forgot it. She talked to us standing about half an 
hour, for w°^ I was in great pain. Mr Pinckney 
then told her he fear*?, we intruded upon her High- 
ness and was going to withdraw, she told us not at 
all, we should not go yet. She believed we would 
be glad to see the Prince of Wales, and she would 
send for him and Prince Edward; these two live in 
a house just opposite to the Princess; she then sett 
down in her chair. By this time my poor little 
girl who had been a good deal flurried and over- 
joyd at the thought of seeing the Princesses, be- 
gan to cry tho' she smotherd it as well as she 
could. The Princess said she feard she was un- 
easy, calld her several times her little angel, 
stoopd upon her knee to her, and desired she 
would tell her what was the matter. I told the 
Princess she had raisd her spirrits to such a height, 
that she was not able to soport it any longer. Tlie 
Princess then took her on her lap, and called again 
for the three youngest Princesses, as they came in 
she told them this was Miss Pinckney from Caro- 
lina was conie to see them, and to go and kiss her. 
The little creature Princess Caroline is a most 
148 



VISIT TO ENGLAND 

charming little babe, speaks very plain, run to her, 
kissd her, and said to the Princess, Mainma this 
is my girl. I then asked her Royal Highness if 
she would permit me to kiss the little one, she 
reply"^, pray do, and ordered Prince Frederick but 
three years old, to come and ask me if he was not 
a good pretty little foot boy? 

I should observe that as soon as we were intro- 
duced the attendance all withdrew, and the Prin- 
cess shut the door, and when the Princess ordered the 
little ones in there was none of the attendance, nor 
when she sent for the Prince of Wales, but the 
Princess Augusta went out of the room herself on 
these Messages to some one without, w^^ was 4 
times while we stayd. There was in the room a 
great deal of China upon two Cabinets ; the Prin- 
cess got up herself and reachd one of the figures 
to please Harriott, and another time desired the 
Princess Augusta to get one w?> was out of her 
reach, so she got a chair and stood on it to reach it. 
She then calld for a little chair for one of the 
little ones, who I fancy was not well, for 'tis not 
usual for any one to sit in her presence, w*:.^ Princess 
Augusta brought herself. 

This, you'll imagine must seem pretty extra- 
ordinary to an American. 

The three youngest sett themselves down upon 
the carpet at her feet. I told her Highness, (for 
by this time I could converse with as much ease 
with her as with almost any of my acquaintance, 
such was her condescension and her affable en- 
149 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

gaging manner,) I said Princess Caroline (the 
youngest of all) was very humble. She sayd she 
was a pretty good girl ; then addressd her. Have 
you ever been in the Corner my Queen ? No 
Ma'am, says the pretty creature, never in the 
corner. I 'm afraid you have, saj^s the Princess, 
upon w?.'^ Prince Frederick says, No Ma'am she 
was never in the corner, but that Sister has; point- 
ing to Harriott who he had seen crying; her Mam- 
ma puts her in the Corner sometimes. The Prin- 
cess held up her finger at him, and told him 't was 
he should be put in the Corner, Then I '11 go to 
Carolina, says he. Well then, good by to you; 
replyd the Princess. 

She then bid H. sit down before her in the 
chair Princess Emelia had just rose from. I told 
her I could not suffer her to sit in her presence. 
Puh-Puh, says the Princess, she knows nothing of 
all that; and sat her down and told her she had 
no pretty things here for her, but when she went 
to London she would get something that was pretty 
and send to her. By this time the little ones were 
called to dinner, I observed that tho they were 
quite easy in their behaviour and seemed to be 
under no restraint, yet young as they were they 
never spoke but one at a time, nor ever interrujjted 
each other w'^'' children . . . usually do When the 
4 youngest were gone the Princess resumed her 
inquiries after Carolina. 

Prince William had for sometime before taken 
Mr Pinckney at a little distance from his Mama, 
150 



VISIT TO ENGLAND 

aiul asked him sevral questions concerning Caro- 
lina, the slaves, etc.; how many sons he had and 
what he designed to bring them up to. He told 
him, the eldest he designed for the barr, w?^ he 
seemed to have capacit}'- and inclination for, the 
other was too young to determine anything wdth 
relation to him, as lie should consult his Genius. 
But, says he, have you not designd something in 
particular for him. Yes Sir, I believe the other 
gown, if 't is his inclination. And what, says he 
very quick, and none for the Sea? Mr. P. told 
him he hoped to have another for the Sea. The 
Princess had before introduced Harriott to him 
in this manner. William, this is Miss P. from 
S. Carolina, you are a sailour you know, may be 
you may go there yet if there should be another 
w^arr, w^^ I hope there will not for we have had 
enough of That. So I imagine he is designd for 
L*?. High Admiral of England, if there ever should 
be another. 

He asked wd^at school Charles was at, and 
wondered Mr P. did not put him to Westminster, 
he told him he designd it, but at the present 
time he thought him too young. He said there 
was a ... for little boys. 

She asked me many little domestick questions 
as did Princess Augusta among w^]' if I suckled my 
children. I told her T had attempted it but my 
constitution would not bear it. She said she did 
not know but 'twas as well let alone, as the anxiety 
a mother was often in on a child's ace* might do 
151 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

hurt. I told her we had Nurses in our houses, 
that it appear*^ very strange to me to hear of people 
putting their children out to nurse, we had no 
such practises in Carolina, at which she seemed 
vastly pleased; she tliought it was a very good 
thing, the other was unnatural. Princess Augusta 
was surprized at the suckling hlachs; the Princess 
stroahd Harriott's cheek, said it made no alter- 
ation in the complexion and paid her the compli- 
ment of heing very fair and pretty. 

She then resumed her inquiries after Carolina, 
as to the Government and Constitution and whether 
the Laws were made by the Governors and Coun- 
cil, the particulars of w^.'.' Mr. Pinckney informd — 
whether we had Earthquakes, askd us concerning 
the Hurricane, . . . concerning the Indians their 
colour, manners etc, how many of them we had 
in our Interest, of our houses, of what they were 
built, our wines and from whence we had them, 
our manner of eating and dressing turtle, one of 
wl? slie was to have for dinner next day she told 
me, of the french settled among us, of the french 
corrupting our Indians, of our manifactures and 
concerning silk; how long the Province had been 
settled, how far it extended back, and many other 
questions, to all w^.^ we answered her Royal High- 
ness in the clearest manner we could; and when 
the Prince would engage Mr P. at a little distance, 
and she wanted to ask him a question she would 
call in a familiar obliging manner, Mr Pinckney 
is such a thing so and so ? 
152 



VISIT TO ENGLAND 

[A i)iece is lost here] who live in a house oppo- 
site to her, so that we saw all nine children together, 
and the Princess in the midst, and a most lovely 
family it is. 

After we had been there two hours, we kissed 
her E-oyal Higness's liaud and withdrew, and she 
ordered Prince Edward to see us to the door. 

I hope you will pardon my thus intruding on 
y.^ time. I know there are many Chit-chat, Negli- 
gent things w°^ have a tolerable air in conversa- 
tion, that make but a poor appearance when one 
comes to write them down and subscribe to them 
in a formal manner. But when I begin to wri^ j to 
my friends in Carolina I don't know how ' con- 
clude and this desire of conversing with them may 
make me a very troublesome corrispondant, tho' I 
hope it will at the same time show, how much I am 
dear madam, 

Yr affectionate and ob'?-*' sv.*. 

E. PiXCKXEY. 

I have given this very long letter in full, not 
remembering ever to have seen such an account 
of a serai-royal audience before. It is a pretty 
and pleasant picture of the widowed Princess 
and her little ones, with no shadow of Lord 
Bute upon the canvas. The lost piece must, 
from the context, have told the arrival of the 
Prince of Wales, as he and Prince Edward 
v^ere the two " \vho lived opposite;" it is a 
153 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

pity that we liave not an account of the future 
George III. 

Princess Augusta, the eldest daughter, mar- 
ried a duke of Brunswick, and was the mother 
of that duke, immortalized by Byron's Waterloo, 
— who " rushed into the field and, foremost 
fighting, fell." 

In spite of all the graciousness and the loyal 
enthusiasm, however, it is remarkable that 
this is the first time that Mrs. Piuckney has 
ever alluded to hei'self and her family as 
" Americans." 

Another long letter, written apparently, from 
the contents, (for there are no dates), about a 
year later, is to Mrs. Manigault, the wife of 
that distinguished patriot Gabriel Manigault, 
who in the Revolution placed his whole hard- 
earned fortune at the service of his State ; and 
having lost his son, offered himself and his 
grandson — seventy-five and fifteen — for duty 
in the trenches at the siege of Charles Town. 

To this lady Mrs. Pinckney writes the warm- 
est commendations and congratulations upon 
that very deserving young gentleman her son, 
" whose polite and obliging behaviour we have 
experienced," and who, having finished his edu- 
cation, is now to " make glad his Mamma's 
heart " by returning to her. " I dare assert, 
not only from mine but from better Judgements, 

154 



VISIT TO ENGLAND 

he will make her amends for all her cares and 
answer all her hopes." The prediction was 
realized, the young man's early death having 
been lamented as a loss to the country in whose 
service he was engaged. 

All young gentlemen from Carolina were not 
so excellent. She goes on pathetically about 
the son of one " venerable friend " whose de- 
serts seem to have been just what he got, 
" a sponging house." It reads like an old- 
fashioned novel. The youth has run away 
from " his master, an eminent attorney," 
hired a country house and is enjoying himself 
extremely, " giving up all thoughts of the Law 
of wh'^!' he seems to have a contemptable 
oppinion," when bailiffs descend and carry him 
off to prison. 

Mr. Pinckney, filled with sympathy for the 
" venerable parent " at home, goes to the rescue 
and tries to induce the youth's master and En<>'- 
lish relations to help bail him out. None, how- 
ever, " although professing great esteem for liis 
Father," will do so. "People here take great 
care of their money," Mrs. Pinckney indig- 
nantly exclaims, and when Mr. Pinckney and 
Mr. Corbett (another American living in Lon- 
don) go to arrange matters, they find so many 
" taylours and otiier creditors in possession," 
that it is all they can do to prevent his being 
156 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

taken to Newgate. "A fine school for the 
reformation of youth ! " the Colonial lady ex- 
claims, in horror at the heartlessness of the 
Londoners, " to be a companion to the wicked- 
est and vilest of wretches, in a loathsome and 
infectious jail ! Surely these people want feel- 
ing hearts, but how can fathers want bowels ? " 
This was before the time of Howard and Mrs, 
Fry, when the debtors' prisons were a disgrace 
to humanity. 

" If you hear nothing of this from other 
hands, I know you will be so good as to make 
it a secret," she continues, showing great confi- 
dence in her correspondent's discretion. She 
goes on more happily : — 

^' I am very glad that you have had so healthy a 
summer, as I share largely in every felicity that 
attends Carolina. I thank God we have all been 
perfectly well, and y® winter is much more mode- 
rate that we expected. 

''We have been chiefly at Bichmond, since in 
England, where we vizet 10 or a dozen agreeable 
familys; the most disagreeable thing to me here is 
the perpetual card playing, it seems with man}^ 
people here to be the business of life. We have 
traveld about seven hundred mile by land this 
summer, 't is a verj^ pleasant but expensive way of 
spending time. We spent the last season at Bath, 
where we were so lucky as to meet with sev- of 
156 



VISIT TO ENGLAND 

our acquaintances, we thought ourselves particularly 
so in meeting with Mr and Mrs Baker & Mr & 
Mrs. Wragg's Brother and Sister there [friends 
from Carolina] Was I to live at a distance from 
London I don't know any place so agreable as 
Bath. They have an exceeding good Markett 
every day, in ye greatest perfection and cheaper 
than any part of England that I have been in. 
We spent some time most agreably in Wiltshire, 
with one of Major Luttrell's relations, a very 
Antient and Rich family. They treated us with 
great friendship and politeness and show'd us 
everything y* was curious and Elegant in that 
county of w^^ there is not a few. 

*'We go to London next week for good, we have 
been at a great loss for a house there, anj, would 
you think it, have not been able to gett a tolerable 
unfurnishd house from Temple Barr to Charing 
Cross, so that we have been obliged to take a fur- 
nishd one ; 't is however a very hansome one and 
gentilely furnishd, in a very good street, and in 
ye centre of everything. [In another letter she 
says ^< the house is ye last but one on ye left hand 
in Craven S.V] With these conveniences, and with 
an extensive good acquaintance, I hope Mr P. will 
be quite reconciled to England, for ye time he pro- 
poses to stay here. At present he is not quite 
satisfied with it, and has manj^ yearnings after his 
native land, tho' I believe never strangers had 
more reason to like a place, everything considered, 
than we have, but still I can't help applying a 
167 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

verse in ye old song to him sometimes, ^Thus 
wretched Exiles as they roam, find favour every- 
where but languish for their native home' etc. I 
have been particularly happy in renewing an old 
friendship with my Lady Carevv; a friendship begun 
at a very early period of life, and now renewed 
with great affection and condescention on her part, 
(for she is greatly my superiour in every thing) and 
with great sincerity on mine — " 
*^ Mem, not time to coj^py fully ! " 

This after four pages of closely written foolscap ! 
Of the travels mentioned above there is the 
following memorandum: — 

^^ Mem. Wrote to my Lady Carew upon our 
coming from Bath to put her in mind of her prom- 
ise to pay us a vizet at our return. Beg she would 
bring Miss C. and Miss S. with her, and Sir 
Nieholass, tell her we have two spair beds, it will 
not putt us to ye least inconveniency. Told her of 
our vizet to Studley, Mr Hungerford's, our friendly 
and polite treatment there; our Peregrination from 
thence to see whatever was curioiis in AViltshire; 
Stonehenge, old Sarum, Salsbur}^ Cathedral, Lord 
Pembroke's at Wilton, & Lord Folkstone's at 
Longford, etc etc; returned again to Mr. Duke's 
near Lake, then to Studley again, then to Bath 
again, and then to Bristol." 

This friendship with Lady Carew was very 
true and tender ; it probably had much to do 
158 



VISIT TO ENGLAND 

with their choice of a permanent home, for 
they did not remain long in London. Mr. 
Pinckney sold his property in Durham, and 
bought a place near Ripley, in Surrey, intend- 
ing to reside there until his sons should have 
finished their education. Mrs. Pinckney had 
enjoyed many things in London. The Family 
Legend says, " She always spoke with pleasure 
of the gayeties in w'^^ she had participated 
during her second visit to England, of the cele- 
brated actors & actresses whom she had seen, 
and that she had never missed a single play 
when Garrick was to act ; " but the place in 
Surrey, the garden county of England, was a 
home after her own heart. 

It was not more than twenty miles from 
London, so that Mr. Pinckney could attend to 
his duties there without difficulty, and although 
Lady Carew's beautiful house of Beddington 
was twelve miles off, it was still within reach, 
and there were near at hand several agreeable 
families. Admiral Broderick was an old friend ; 
Colonel and Mrs. Onslow. Mr. and Mrs. Chat- 
field, and others were kind and friendly. Lord 
King's place of Ockham Court was also near, 
and with the family there, especially with Mrs. 
King, the wife of the fourth brotlier, who ulti- 
mately succeeded to the title, she became very 
intimate. On her return to America her cor- 

159 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

respondence with these friends was continued 
for years. Mrs. King, it may be observed, was 
the great grandmotlier of that Lord King who 
married Lord Byron's daughter Ada, and be- 
came Earl of Lovelace. 

The notes from Ripley show the usual rou- 
tine of English country life ; dining, visiting, 
etc., with sometimes a notice of a trip to Bath, 
or a proposed journey " into the North." Little 
Charles Cotes worth was at school, the two 
other children at home : their mother writes : — 

To my Lady Carew at Beddington. 

My Dear Ma";^*', — Be so good as to give me 
one line to let me know how 3^011 got home, you 
can't conceive the anxiety we have been under on 
yf going 12 mile (tlio in a coach and six) on so dis- 
mal a night, it rained excessive hard and the wind 
blfew a perfect storm soon after 3-ou left us. A 
hundred whimsical, (I hope I may call them so,) 
apprehensions came into my head I try'd what the 
new books, Boadicea, and Sir Cliarles Grandison, 
just received, could do to putt you for ye night out, 
and bring m}^ mind to a settled frame, nor could I 
gett to sleep till past one when I hoped you might 
be well at home." . . . 

And again : — 

^' This [an illness of her youngest son] has 
prevented our indulging ourselves with ye long 
160 



VISIT TO ENGLAND 

intended gratification of our wishes to spend a few 
days with you at Beddington. ... I most sincerely 
hope y\. afflictions will now have an end, and y?. 
Father of Mercies will restore j^our Daughter be- 
yond y!. most sanguine expectations.'' 

Poor Lady Carew was a sadly afflicted 
woman ; all her children died before her, this 
last daughter three or four years later, and her 
own health was extremely precarious. Mrs. 
Pinckney concludes : — 

*'I now see you so seldom that this is almost 
the only way I have of conversing with you, and 
therefore should he glad I could make my letters 
consist of more than mere 'How doos/ but except 
y^ action done by ye New England forces under 
Gen|. Johnson — 

" 3Iem. not time to coppy fully but wrote upon 
the Earthquake at Lisbon.'' 

This reference fixes the date of this note as 
1755, by which time one would suppose there 
was plenty of news for any one connected with 
America. The following strikes the note of 
alarm : 

''Instead of this we intended to have done our- 
selves the pleasure of Breakfasting with your Lady- 
ship this week at Beddington, but Mr Pinckney's 
time has been wholly ingaged in preparing papers, 
11 161 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

and attending on yl Lords Commissioners for Trade 
and Plantations, on ye late alarming accounts of 
the strides the French are making on ye backs of 
our English CoUonys in North America, and w?.^ 
may too soon very materially affect that province 
to w^'^ we are so nearly related." 

This note must have been written in 1755 or 
1756, and by that time the " backs of y.? collonys" 
were indeed in an alarming condition. Brad- 
dock was defeated near Fort Duquesne in '55, 
and the French were exciting the Indians 
along the borders from Canada to Virginia. 
As yet, however, Carolina was comparatively 
tranquil, and it is a curious instance of the 
sliglit connection hitherto felt between the 
different colonics, that such an event should be 
entirely unmcntioned in these letters. That 
same year, however, the common danger drew 
them together, and the governors of the dif- 
ferent provinces met for the first time, to con- 
cert measures for common protection against 
the French and their Indian allies, — thus fore- 
shadowing the brotherhood of banded colonies 
that w as to defy the British empire. 

In Europe itself an unusual tranquillity pre- 
vailed. The Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, hollow 
though it was, had hushed the guns in the 
western waters, and relieved the long suffer- 
ings of the maritime countries. In the French 

162 



VISIT TO ENGLAND 

and English possessions in the East Indies, 
however, and along the American frontiers, 
hostilities had never ceased, and Benjamin 
Franklin had already declared that the English 
colonies would never know rest, while the 
French were masters of Canada. 

Aggressions on both sides now broke the 
peace, and war was formally proclaimed. The 
southern colonists heard the news with dismay, 
— to them peace and plenty were synonymous, 
and Carolina at least had not yet felt the prov- 
ocations. To her, interference with commerce 
meant ruin, and years were again to pass be- 
fore a letter could go from the new to the old 
world except in an armed vessel or a merchant- 
man under convoy. 

Mr. Pinckney's official position made the 
situation especially clear to him, as shown by 
entries in his books; and his wife wrote to 
her friend, apologizing for failing to meet her 
at Bath as they had promised to do. 

^^ When the frequent opportunities I sliould have 
of conversing with my much valued friend Lady 
Carew was the principal pleasure I promised my- 
self in being there. 

'^1 delay*^ writing to you then till we had fixt 

the time for seting out, but before that was de- 

termind the bad ace'.? we had from abroad and the 

many repeated ones afterwards turnd the tide of 

163 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

pleasure we had in prospect to gloomy anxiety, 
and made me neglect all Epistolary intercourse 
with my friends, for upon our continual alarms 
from abroad, Mr. Pinckney came to a resolution to 
return to Carolina for two years, and wait an op- 
portunity to dispose of the greatest part of what 
he has there, and fix it in a more secure tho' less 
improvable part of the world ; and as I can by no 
means think of staying behind him, you can judge 
my dear Ma*.™ what I have sufferd, and do still 
suffer in the expectation of parting with all my 
dear children for two or three years and consider- 
ing the uncertainty of life perhaps for ever! These 
my dear friend are too interesting considerations 
not to be sensibly felt by us. A long sea voyage, 
besides the danger of being taken and what hard- 
ships we may suffer in an enemy's country at 
this time are apprehensions that also excite pain, 
but of a less affecting nature than leaving the dear 
creatures for whose advantage we are content to 
undergo all inconveniencies. 

^^ How uncertain are human dependancies! four 
years ago we left a fine and flourishing Collony in 
profound peace; a Collony so valuable to this 
nation that it would have been lookd upon as 
absurd to have the least doubt of its being pro- 
tected and taken care of in case of a Warr, tho' a 
Warr then seemed a very distant contingency, and 
indeed I lookd upon an Estate there as secure as 
in England, and upon some ace'.' more Valuable, 
especially to those who have a young family; but 
164 



VISIT TO ENGLAND 

how mucli reason we liave had to change our senti- 
ments since the beginning of this AVarr, is too 
pLain to every one ever so little acquainted with 
American Affairs. 

^'We first had thoughts of carrying our little 
girl with us, but considering the danger to wh":!' she 
must be exposed, have thought better of it, and 
shall leave her as well as her brothers. 

"We think of letting our House at Ripley with 
the furniture standing till our return, and shall be 
in London before we Embark, as we intend to wait 
for a man of Warr if there should be any prospect 
of one in the summer or fall of the year, going 
that way. . . . 

"Poor dear Miss Carew! I am very sorry her 
journey to Bath has been of so little effect, we 
have had dreadful weather for her complaints. I 
long much to see her, and we shall certainly wait 
on y^. Ladyship and Sir Nicholass before we leave 
England. . . . 

"Adieu my dear Mad!^ and be assurd what ever 
part of the world Providence allots me I shall 
ever retain the most affectionate regard for you. 
Your own merrit and the constancy of my dis- 
position will make you ever dear to me, and I shall 
rejoyce and share in every felicity that attends you, 
be the distance between us ever so great. . . . Once 
more adieu and believe me etc. 

"Piipley Eeb-iTT'-MToT." 

This sad farewell is the last English letter 
that we Lave; but they did not return to 
165 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

America for another year, sailing in March 
1758 and taking the little girl with them. 
Both the bojs were left at school, — their 
mother little dreaming, poor lady ! that she 
was not to see either again until they were 



166 



IX 

DEATH OF CHIEF JUSTICE PINCKNEY 

1758-1759 

The Pinckneys had been absent from Caro- 
lina for five years, and on arriving Mr. Pinckney 
found his property in great need of attention, 
for his brother, whom he had left in charge, 
had been smitten with paralysis. The Chief 
Justice went into the country to visit his dif- 
ferent plantations, was seized with fever, and 
died after an illness of three weeks, on the 
13th of July, 1758. 

We know but little of the circumstances, for 
it is to the credit of Mrs. Pinckney's taste and 
sense, that she spares her correspondents the 
details of illness and death, which mourners too 
frequently pour from their overflowing hearts 
into indifferent ears. They had not, upon 
arriving, returned to their own house, for that 
had been let upon a long lease to Governor 
Glen, and it continued to be occupied by 
successive governors until their son, Charles 
Cotesworth, attained his majority. They were 

167 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

occupying the house in Ellory Street when Mr, 
Pinckney's illness began, but he died at Mt. 
Pleasant, a seashore village across the harbor, 
to which he had been removed for change of 
air. He was buried in the yard of St. Philip's 
Church, of which he had long been a faithful 
member. 

It is to be regretted that the " Gazettes " for 
this particular year are missing from the val- 
uable collection in the Charleston Library, so 
that we have no public mention of Chief Justice 
Pinckney's death. His granddaughter, Miss 
Maria Pinckney, in the often quoted Family 
Legend, says that his son had " the most ex- 
alted opinion of his father, not from recollection, 
as he [C. C. P.] was only twelve years old when 
he last saw him, but from the reflections and 
notes in his own handwriting, that he found 
dispersed through his books. These books are 
no longer in existence. At the commencement 
of the war between England and the colonies 
the greater part of the library, papers of con- 
sequence, and everything that was valuable in 
the family, were sent to Ashepoo, to a place 
belonging to General Thomas Pinckney, sup- 
posing it to be sufficiently remote to be out of 
danger; but the house was at length burned, 
with everything in it, except what had been 
plundered and carried off." 

IfxS 



DEATH OF CHIEF JUSTICE PINCKNEY 

This was in Provost's baffled attack on 
Charles Town in 1779. 

We have, consequently, only tradition, and 
the letters of his wife, from which to form an 
impression of Mr. Pinckncy's character. For 
the terrible blow of his death Mrs. Pinckney 
was quite unprepared ; the mistaken tender- 
ness of her friends, and her own hopeful dis- 
position had, she says, blinded her to the 
danger, and made the shock the greater. 

She was sadly isolated as far as kindred 
went, for except her little daughter she had 
no relation of her own nearer than Antigua, 
Mr. Pinckncy's only brother was helpless from 
paralysis, and the latter's son a young man just 
grown up. This youth had, before Mr. Pinck- 
ncy's second marriage, been considered his 
uncle's heir. The birth of the little Charles 
Cotesworth had, of course, put an end to this 
arrangement, but not, the Family Legend says, 
to the bond between them. " It did not dimin- 
ish his affection for his uncle, or his love for 
his young cousin. . . . Nor did his Uncle remit 
his care and attention to him, he continued to 
live with him, he educated him for the Law, 
sent him to England five years for the comple- 
tion of his education. ... He was the father 
of Charles Pinckney, one of the Framers of the 
Constitution." 

1G9 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

Whenever in the following letters " My 
Nephew " or " Your Cousin " is spoken of, this 
young man is meant, although he had brothers 
and sisters. He assisted his aunt in the 
management of her affairs. She had also the 
kindest of friends, as her letters show, but she 
was naturally overwhelmed with grief, and it 
was not until August that she found strength 
to write to her children. 

To my dear Children, Charles ^ Thomas Pinchney. 

How shall I write to you, what shall I say to 
you my dear, my ever dear children? but if pos- 
sible more so now than ever, for I have a tale to 
tell you that will pierce your tender infant hearts ; 
you have mett my children with the greatest loss 
you could meet with upon earth your Dear Father 
the best and most valuable of Parents is no more. 
. . . Endeavour to submit to the will of God in 
the best manner that you can, and let it be a com- 
fort to you my dear Babes that you had such a 
Father ! He has set you a great and good exam- 
ple, may the Lord enable you both to follow it, 
and may God Almighty fulfill all your plus 
father's prayers upon both your heads ; they were 
almost incessant for blessings both spiritual and 
temporal upon you both . . . His affection for 
you was as great as ever was ujjon Earth, and you 
were good Children and deserved it; he thought 
you so, he blessd and thankd God for you and had 
170 



DEATH OF CHIEF JUSTICE PINCKNEY 

most comfortable hopes of you — . . . His sick 
bed and dying moments were the natural conclu- 
sion of such a life as his was, for that God whom 
he had served enabled him to put the firmest trust 
and confidence in him; his patience was great and 
uncommon & he had the most perfect resignation 
to the Will of God that ever Man had. He mett 
the King of Terrors without the least terror or 
affright and without agony and went like a Lamb 
into eternit}', where I have not the least doubt he 
will reap immortal Joy for Ever and Ever. . . . 
Adieu my dear children. God Almighty bless 
guide and protect you, make you his own children, 
and worthy such a father as yours was, and comfort 
you in this great affliction, is the fervent and 
constant prayer of 

Your ever affectionate tho greatly afflicted 
mother, 

E. PiNCKNEY 

who feels most exquisitely for what you must suffer 

upon the receit of this letter, God Almighty 

soport y " tender spirrits. 

Amen Amen. 
August, 1758. 

This cry of anguish the bereaved woman 
encloses to Mr. Gerrard, the gentleman at 
whose school her sons were, with the most 
anxious prayers for tender treatment of the 
poor little fellows, that lie will *' brake it to 

171 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

them," especially to poor little Tommy who, 
" early one morning as he lay abed, and I alone 
with him, without any discourse leading to it, 
told me he had a favour to beg of me ; w'^^ was, 
if we went to Carolina and his dear papa should 
dye there that he might never know it, and he 
would ask his papa the same favour if I dyed 
there." 

She writes in the same strain to Mrs. Evance, 
the friend who is to be to her sons the same 
motherly guardian that Mrs. Boddicott (now 
dead) had been to her brothers and herself; 
and to their business manager in England, 
George Morley, Esq., telling the same tale of 
grief, but making scrupulously careful arrange- 
ments for meeting all expenses, etc. 

To Mr. Gerrard. 

I have beg" tlie favour of my friend Mrs. Evance 
to pay the children's bills punctually; but my debt 
of gratitude will always be due. My return to 
them is at present uncertain, but my heart is with 
them and as soon as I can consistent with their 
interest, they may be sure I shall with the Divine 
Permission see them. I have sent a large barl. of 
rice, w "' their dear Father had orderd should be the 
best, and to be sent to you. The children love it 
boild dry to eat with their moat instead of bread, 
they should have had some patatoes of this country, 
but they are not yet come in. 
172 



DEATU OF CUIEF JUSTICE PINCKNEY 

To Mr. Morley. 

[After repeating the account of her husband's 
illness and death] — 

I know I need not beg of you good sir, to be 
kind to my dear fatherless children, and to supply 
Mrs. Evance with what she needs for them, w^!" sliall 
be repay ^. with speed and gratitude. I am not able 
to write to you now upon business, but my Nephew 
will do it by this convoy, and send you bills of 
Exchange (to what amount I can't yet tell,) but I 
shall remitt you for the future all the mony I can 
as fast as I receive it, and when y- debt is payd 
and the children's expences defrayd pray be so good 
as to put what remains in the funds. . . . 

Since the foregoing T have seen my Nephew 
and he tells me he has the promise of Bills of 
jr^c'ipe f^j, 2 hundred pound sterling, w':^ he will 
send by these ships, and the GovF. has promised he 
will write to his agent to pay you two hundred 
pound sterling, provided you have not received one 
hundred pound since we left England ; so I hope 
you will upon the arrival of these ships receive 
£400. 

My dear Mr. Pinckney had provided some Turtle 
etc., for his friends in England w^.^ are now sent, 
I think by Ball & Cheeseman, but as I am in 
the country and am not yett certain, I must beg the 
favour of you Sir to give the person that takes care 
of them, a crown for every Turtle you receive alive, 
and wliatever you think reasonable for eacli bird 
173 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

and Summer Duck, and send tliem free of expence 
to the persons they are designd for. 

There are four large & one smaller Turtle, If 
they all, or any number of them come safe, the 
largest to be sent to Mrs King in Dover Si or 
at Ockham Court Surrey, and all the Summer 
Ducks and Drakes and 2 or 3 Nonpareils; but if 
only one Turtle come safe that to be sent to Mrs 
King, if more, one to Mr Edwards in Bedford 
Kow, one to Sir Nicholas Carew at Beddington, 
and one to Mrs Peter Milman in New Broad S*. 
buildings, and if all the large ones got safe the 
small one for Mr Chatfield, but the 4 first named 
must be first served, and I beg Mr Morley's 
acceptance of all the rest of the birds, how many I 
can't say, there was a great many when I left 
town. 

All the persons here mentioned are their 
neighbors in Surrey. The scrupulous carrying 
out of her husband's wishes, and the attention 
to these details in the midst of her grief, are 
most characteristic of the woman. One won- 
ders if the wild ducks reached England alive ! 

Not until October could she get an oppor- 
tunity of writing to Antigua, and then, careful 
of her mother's health and nerves, she enclosed 
the letter to her in one to her sister, and sent 
both under cover to their friend Colonel Tal- 
bot; begging him to prepare them for the sad 

intelligence. 

174 



DEATH OF CHIEF JUSTICE PINCKNEY 

Antigua. 
To Mrs Lucas — 

With a bleeding heart dear Madam I inform 
you that since you heard from me the greatest 
of Human Evils has befallen me. Oh ! My Dear 
Mother my dear, dear Mr Pinckney the best of 
men and husbands is no more ! Oh, dreadful re- 
verse of what I was when I last wrote to you ! 

You were but a short time witness of my happi- 
ness. I was for more than 14 year the happiest 
mortal upon Earth ! Heaven had blessed me be- 
yond the lott of Mortals & left me nothing to wish 
for. The Almighty had given every blessing in 
that dear, that worthy, that valuable man, whose 
life was one continued course of active Virtue. 
I had not a desire beyond him, nor had I a peti- 
tion to make to Heaven but for a continuance of 
the blessings I injoyd for I was truly bless'd ! 
Think then what I now suffer for myself and for 
my dear fatherless children ! Poor babes, how de- 
plorable is their loss ! 

Their Example, the Protector and guide of 
their youth, the best and tenderest of parents is 
taken from them. God alone who has promisd 
to be the Father of the fatherless can make up this 
dreadful loss to them, and I trust he will keep 
them under his Almighty protection and fulfil all 
their pius Father's prayers upon their heads and 
will enable the helpless distressd parent they have 
left to do them good 

Grant Great God that I may spend my whole 
175 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

future life in their Service and show vaj affection 
and gratitude to their dear Father by my care of 
those precious remains of him, the pledges of 
the sincerest and tenderest affection that ever was 
U23on earth. 

It was principally for their advantage that we 
returnd again to this Province, my dear Mr 
Pinckney intending as soon as his affairs were 
disposed of in the manner he approvd to return 
to our Infant Sons. But how much anguish did 
the parting with his dear boys give tliat most 
affectionate and best of fathers ! He parted with 
life with less pain than with them, for in that 
awful hour he sliowed the fruits of a well spent 
life; his had been the Life of a constant, steady, 
active Virtue, with an habitual Trust and Confi- 
dence in, as well as an intire Resignation to the 
Will of the Deity, w??" made him happy and chear- 
ful thro life, and made all about him so, for 
his was true religion, free from sourness and super- 
stition, and in his sickness & death the good man 
and the Christian shind forth in an uncommon 
resolution and patience humility and intire 
resignation to the Divine Will. My tears flow 
too fast — I must have done. Tis too much, too 
much to take a review of that distressful hour! 

We left England in March, (and did not acquaint 
you with it least you should be uneasy from appre- 
hensions of our being taken,) and arrived here the 
19*" of Ma}^, after being at sea ten weeks ; one of 
my dear Mr Pinckney 's first inquiries after his 
176 



DEATH OF CHIEF JUSTICE PINCKNEY 

arrival here, was for a Vessel to Antigua, in order 
to write to you and my brother ; we lieard of one 
hut she was stopd by an Embargo till after the 
12'.'^ of July, the fatal day w'i^ deprivd me of all 
my Soul holds dear & left me in a distress w^.l^ no 
language can paint, for his Virtues and aimiable 
qualities are deeply imprinted in my heart, his dear 
image is ever in my Eye, and the remembrance of 
his affection and tenderness to me, must remain 
to my latest . day a remembrance mingled with 
pleasure and anguish. The remembrance of what 
he was soothes and comforts me for a time. AVith 
what pleasure I reflect on the clearness of his head, 
the goodness of his heart, the piety of his mind, 
the sweetness of his temper, the good Sence and 
vivacity of his conversation, his fine address, the 
aimiableness of his whole deportment, for I did 
not know a Virtue he did not possess; this pleases 
while it pains and may be called the Luxury of 
Grief. This you know is not a picture drawn by 
flattery or partiality, many will subscribe to the 
justice of it, all y * really knew him must. But 
what anguish in the thought that these that were 
my great delights and blessings are taken from 
me for ever in this world, for in the next I hope 
there is a union of Virtuous souls, where there is 
no more death no more parting but virtuous love 
and friendship to endure to Eternity ! and this 
surely must be one of the greatest degrees of bliss 
a human Suul can injo}^, except the injoyment of 
the Deity himself, and this hope is my comfort 
12 177 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

for every tiling below has lost its relish. Earth 
has no more charms for me, I have indeed had a 
large share of Blessings. How undeserving was 
I, how unexpected such a treasure, and yet Boun- 
teous Heaven gave him to me. 

! had Heaven but added one blessing more, 
and spared him to see his dear children brought 
up, and let us have gone to the Grave hand in 
hand together, what a Heaven had I injoy'd 
upon Earth ! 

But why those great and uncommon blessings 
to me? those already injoyd were beyond desert; 
vastly beyond desert and expectation. Great God 
Almiglity give me thy grace and enable me to 
drink this bitter cup w":^ Thou hast allotted me, 
and to submit to Thee however hard the task, 
with that resignation and submission w*!^ becomes 
thy creature and servant, and one that has tasted 
so largely of Thy Bounty. 

How long a letter have I wrote and all on one 
dismal subject; forgive me oh! My Mother for 
giving you so much pain while I have indulged 
myself thus, but my Soul is oppressd with bitter 
anguish and my thoughts intirely taken up with 
my own melancholy concerns. 

1 lately received a letter from good Col. Talbott 
to my poor dear Mr Pinckney, with one inclosed 
from you to me, informing me of my brother's 
being saild to England, it w?. have given us 
great pleasure had it been a year ago, we should 
then have mett with comfort & pleasure; but my 



DEATH OF CHIEF JUSTICE PINCKNEY 

dear boys will rejoyce to see their Uncle, and I 
hope he will be there before the nielanclioly tid- 
ings reaches them. My heart is with them and 
T sliall with the Divine Permission return as soon 
as I can. I shall write to you again soon if I am 
able. I hope you will allways command me in 
everything wherein I can serve you, and be as- 
ured H is not more my duty than my inclination 
to show you in every instance in my power how 
much I am 

Your Dutiful and affectionate tho 
greatly afflicted Daughter 

E. PiNCKNEY. 

S"-^- Sept?: 25*.M758 — 

[Sent apparently early in October.] 

It is difficult to make a selection from the 
letters of this time. They are many, but all 
naturally upon the same subject. Grief is 
monotonous, and a mind absorbed in its own 
sorrow repeats the phrases which alone convey 
its thoughts. A few paragraphs throwing 
light on different points are therefore taken, 
— the omitted portions being much the same 
in all. 

In a letter to Mrs. Evance is one of the few 
allusions to the ill feeling in the matter of the 
Chief Justiceship. She writes in February, 1759, 
and is not sure that her letters of the August 
before have been received. Those which she 
179 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

acknowledo'es were written in June ! So much 
did the war interfere with communication. 
She continues : — 

^^Tho I take up vaj pen again I will not resume 
the distressful subject, but turn my thoughts where 
I trust the Almighty will in pity and mercj^ give 
me comfort where I most desire it. I will talk to 
you of my children pray let me hear as often as 
possible how they do, how they look, whether they 
grow, and say as much as you can about them, for 
the hearing of them, and that they are good & 
well is the greatest cordial to my distressd mind 
that can possiblj' be administerd. 

^'Accept for ^-ourself dear Ma**.'." and return to 
all our friends that show any countenance to our 
dear boys the sincere acknowledgements of a grate- 
ful heart, that will ever look upon itself as under 
the highest obligations to them for their goodness to 
my children, especially to good Mr & Mrs Middle- 
ton, Doctr Kirkpatrick & Mr Morley. ... I hope 
they are now with you in London, but they will be 
at school before this can reach you. I must beg 
the favour of you therefore to add to the many 
kindnesses w''.!' I know you have indulged them 
with, that of spending a day with them at Camber- 
well when you receive this to let them know I and 
their dear little sister are well ; won't the good 
Doct' accompany you ? I know he takes pleasure 
in being friendlj^ and humain and won't think it 
too trifeling to chear the little hearts of innocent 
180 



DEATH OF CHIEF JUSTICE PINCKNEY 

clnldren. I beg leave to insist you will sett down 
the expenses of dinner, coach hire etc, to my 
accl I forget whether I mentioned to you before 
I left England, (I know I intended it,) that the 
children should make y' servants, some acknowl- 
edgement of their trouble at holiday times, what 
you think proper ; it was what they always did to 
our own, and at Whitsuntide they used to make 
Mrs Greene [the housekeeper at school] the pres- 
ent of a guinea for a pound of tea, besides the 
donations at Xmas at Camberwell, so that if Mrs 
Greene had it not last Whitsuntide, they must 
carry her two, the next. . . . 

^<I have not been in town since my great misfor- 
tune, but at my friend Mrs Golightly^s in the 
country, from whom I have experienced the great- 
est tenderness, but I shall return in a fortnight to 
my own solitary habitation in C" Town, where 'tis 
necessary I should be on ace* of business." 

Ill such careful ways as the above she never 
fails to train her children, in what she thinks 
the kindness due to others. She never forgets 
in writing to send her love to "the Masters 
Drayton," two little Carolinians, (one of whom 
became in after years the distinguished Chan- 
cellor, William Henry Drayton) who were at 
school with her sons, and when she sends 
" the present of a guinea " to her own boys, 
always sends one also for " Master Tomm 
Evance." ^^^ 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

To Mrs. Chaffield at Ripley/. 

In this country he [Mr. Pinckney] had it in 
his power to do good various ways, and his life was 
a continual course of active virtue ; his power to 
Exercise it in England was circumscribed within 
much narrower bounds, as his Estate was at a dis- 
tance and so badly managed that he seldom re^.*^ more 
than a half of his income from hence. He had 
such an amiable sweetness & cheerfulness of dis- 
position, that in above fourteen year that T was his 
happy wife, I never knew him pensive, till that 
Power was too much confind for his benevolent 
mind; then was I often witness to his secrete 
grief for troubles, that reaclid neither him nor 
those most near to him. It would give you some 
idea of what he must have merited from mankind 
if 3^ou knew how much he was Lamented, for could 
Prayers or Tears have rescued him from the grave, 
he had never seen Death. Even his poor slaves 
(who are a people not generally esteemd the most 
tender) travel'd some thirty, some forty mile in the 
night, to see the last of a Master they almost 
adored, and several of them would willingly have 
given up their own lives, to have had his spared to 
their children, so strong did natural affection to 
their offspring work in these poor creatures, and so 
sensible were they of their great misfortune ; & 
many of them now say they would rather serve his 
children than be free. 

182 



DEATH OF CHIEF JUSTICE PINCKNEY 

The August fleet had been scattered, the 
vessel with the bills of exchange captured, and 
the turtles and wild ducks probably lost, for in 
the next year, there is mention of " another 
attempt " to send them, but one vessel carr}^- 
ing one of the duplicate letters arrived in Eng- 
land, and the faithful Mr. Morley wrote, and 
many other friends. The boys were too much 
afilicted to write, but were well, and Mr. Ger- 
rard sends " a character of them w^> is the 
greatest comfort I can receive." Mr. Pinck- 
ney's will had been left in England. His 
widow did not receive it until the following 
summer ; she acknowledges the receipt of it in 
September, 1759, and says : — 

To Mr. Morletj. 

I have not yet proved the will and am advised 
not to do it, as it would be attended with much 
trouble in taking a particular Inventory of every 
thing even the most minute, w':^ must be return? 
upon oath, and the proving of it is, t' is said, un- 
necessary, as there is but little due from the 
Estate, and nobody to call me to ace*, and the 
will itself must remain good and in Force as 't is 
on Record. 

However if you think it best I shall not mind the 
trouble, but will still do it, as I would perform the 
Sacred Trust to the utmost of my ability in every 
Tittle in the best way I can. 
183 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

This will, almost the only composition of 
Mr. Pinckney's remaining, was highly prized 
by his sons, who esteemed it as a lesson of life 
bequeathed to them, by their honored father. 
In it he makes the most careful provision for 
their education, which, as better than house 
or lands, is, he says, to be completed in the 
thorough manner which he had planned, even 
if by the vicissitudes of the colonies it should 
be necessary to sacrifice real estate to meet the 
expense. Any of his property, he says, may be 
sold for the purpose, — " Always excepting his 
estate of Pinckney Island." 

On his " Mansion house," bequeathed to his 
eldest son, he leaves a charge of ten guineas 
per annum, for the founding of a semi-annual 
lecture, to be delivered in St. Philip's Church, 
Charles Town, in May and October of every 
year, on the " Goodness and Greatness of God." 
This bequest was faithfully observed. Every 
year, until the liouse was destroyed in 1861, a 
clergyman, either chosen by the bishop, or by 
the representative of tlie family, preached the 
two sermons. During the lifetime of General 
Pinckney, the clergy were entertained at a din- 
ner the same day ; when he was succeeded by 
his daughters, an evening reception was substi- 
tuted for the dinner and was attended by the 
bishop and all the clergy and many other 
184 



DEATU OF CHIEF JUSTICE PINCKNEY 

guests. Thus tlic " Pinckney Lectures" and 
the Piiickney "clerical teas," as they were 
called, perpetuated the memory of their pious 
founder, to '' a period within the memory of 
men still living." In the Life of General 
Thomas Pinckney two clauses of this will are 
given, which are reprinted here, as such senti- 
ments can hardly be read too often : — 

*'And to the end that my beloved son Charles 
Cotesworth may the better be enabled to become 
the bead of his family, and prove not only of ser- 
vice and advantage to his country, but also an 
honour to his stock and kindred, my order and 
direction is that my said son be virtuously, religi- 
ously and liberally brought up, and educated in the 
study and practice of the Laws of England ; and 
from my said son I hope, as he would have the 
blessing of Almighty God, and deserve the counte- 
nance and favour of all good men, and answer my 
expectations of him, that he will employ all his 
future abilities in the service of God and his coun- 
try, in the cause of virtuous liberty, as well religi- 
ous as civil, and in support of private right and 
justice between man and man ; and that he by no 
moans debase the dignity of human nature, nor the 
honour of his profession, by giving countenance to, 
or ever appearing in favour of, irreligion, injustice 
or wrong, oppression or tyranny of any kind, public 
or private ; but that he will make the Glory of God 
and the good of mankind, the relief of the poor and 
185 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

distressed, the widow and the fatherless, and such 
as have none else to help them, his principal aim 
and study. 

^'I do also direct that my beloved son Thomas 
Pinchney shall have the same virtuous, religious and 
liberal education out of my estate with his brother, 
and although I cannot yet direct, to what profes- 
sion he shall be brought up, yet I have the same 
hopes and expectations of him as of my eldest son ; 
and I desire as soon as he is capable of reason and 
reflection, he be informed thereof 5 and that a pas- 
sion for the same virtuous and noble pursuits be 
inculcated in him as in his elder brother." 

A life so pure and beneficent as Chief Jus- 
tice Pinckney's could not well be ended by 
utterances wiser or nobler than these ; and 
we cannot wonder that they came to his chil- 
dren as the voice of one " who being dead yet 
speaketli." 



186 



THE INDIAN WARS 

1759-1761 

Let grief be never so heavy, a woman who 
has on her heart and conscience the welfare 
of children and household must before very 
long rouse herself to her duties, and take up 
the burden of life ; and when the first agony of 
parting was dulled by time, Mrs. Pinckney set 
herself to the work which lay before her. 
Happy is it for us mortals that our sight is 
even shorter than our lives ! Had this tender 
mother known that the separation from her 
children was to endure for fourteen years, 
could she have borne it ? Her letters are full 
of the hope of soon going to them, but circum- 
stances made this unadvisable ; and so she went 
on from day to day, '* taking," as Sydney Smith 
would have advised, " short views," until the 
far distant time when they returned to her. 

It was no easy task which the young widow 
of thirty-six had to assume. Her husband's 
property was chiefly in land and negroes in 
187 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

various localities. " It is a very difficult thing 
to manage property in Carolina,". she says in 
one place. Fortunately for her, her early ex- 
perience and cliarge of her father's estate had 
given her unusual knowledge, and her natural 
taste for agriculture revived, doubtless to the 
benefit of health and spirits. In September, 
1759, little more than a year after her hus- 
band's death, she returned to her own house, 
and soon after w^ent again to Belmont. 

She had liere the comfort of congenial com- 
panionship, in the presence of Lady Ann Mac- 
kenzie, " a pious and sensible young woman, 
who is so kind as to stay some time with me." 
This lady was one of the daughters of that 
Earl of Cromartie w^ho was nearly beheaded 
for his participation in the Jacobite rising of 
1745. 

By the extraordinary efforts of his wife, and 
the personal intercession of Frederick, Prince 
of Wales, the earl's life had been spared ; but 
his title and estates were confiscated, and his 
large family scattered. Mr. Drayton of South 
Carolina had married one of the daughters 
(Lady Mary), while on a visit to England, and 
her sister. Lady Ann, accompanied her to Amer- 
ica ; she afterwards married the Hon. George 
Murray. Their tomb may be seen in the Scotch 
churchyard in Charleston. These sisters be- 
188 



THE INDIAN WARS 

came very intimate with Mrs. Pinckncy, and 
there is frequent mention of them in her 
letters. 

At Behnont she found everything suffering 
from absence and neglect. " It has gone back 
to woods again," she says. But much more 
important and more difficult was the care of 
the numerous dependants, whose attachment 
to her husband she has already mentioned. 
Even as a girl Mrs. Pinckney had devoted 
much care and attention to the improvement 
of her people, not only in the useful arts, but in 
moral and religious training. Some she had 
tauglit to read, in the hope that they might 
teach the others ; she herself on Sundays read 
and explained the Bible to them, and taught 
them to pray. Her devices for encouraging 
them in neatness, morality, and industry she 
taught to her children and grandchildren, who 
were all honorably known as kind and well- 
beloved owners. 

It must be remembered that at tliis time 
hardly any one entertained the least doubt of 
the propriety and necessity of slavery, and the 
planters of Virginia and Carolina went among 
their people much as their English cousins did 
among their peasantry, — a peasantry then not 
much more enliglitened and in many respects 
much worse off than the southern negroes. 
189 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

As there was no doubt and no irritation, so 
there were none of the restrictive laws which 
it was afterwards thought needful to place on 
education, etc., and conscientious people did 
then- best to transform the cargoes of savages 
brought to their doors into the decent, capable 
servants whom we remember. Of their won- 
derful success it is needless now to tell. In 
1861 the men of the Confederacy left their 
women and homes in safety under the care of 
the Christian people whom they and their 
forefathers had rescued from a barbarous 
heathenism. 

The mistress of a plantation in those days 
arose early, like Solomon's virtuous woman, 
and her work was much the same. The plan- 
tation nurse had the first audience ; advice and 
medicines were given, sympathy and personal 
visits later in the day. Then came the house- 
keeper, and portions were assigned to men and 
maids. The planning for the welfare and pro- 
viding: for the wants of two or three hundred 
people, is no light matter. Where the planta- 
tions were scattered, it involved an immense 
amount of correspondence on all sorts of mi- 
nute points with the overseers. The domestic 
economy of the place (quite distinct from the 
planting operations) was under the direction 
of the mistress, and her presence and influence 

190 



THE INDIAN WARS 

trained and civilized the handmaids, to whom 
she taiiglit their various trades. The spinning 
and weaving, the cutting and making of clothes, 
went on incessantly. 

Miss Lucas's letters have shown what the 
country could supply her father with. Mrs. 
Pinckney continued the same industries. Meat 
(bacon) was cured, lard " tried," soap boiled 
and candles moulded, sheep shorn and wool 
carded. The larder must never be empty, tlie 
wood-pile never go down ; the dairy must furnish 
butter and cream, the garden vegetables and 
fruit. The sick must be visited, the old people 
have soup and sugar, the piccaninnies molasses 
and " gungers." The writer has seen this work 
(with but few alterations) go on, on the planta- 
tion of Mrs. Pinckney \s granddaughter, edu- 
cated by her. Through three generations from 
1740 to 1860 one system had prevailed, and 
the answer, " it was always so in my grand- 
mother's time," settled every question. 

Mr. Pinckney's family was what was called 
*^ well left," as his will shows ; but the uncer- 
tainty of Colonial affairs was always present to 
the mind. In writing to an old friend in 
Surrey, " Vigorous Edwards Esq'-" Mrs. Pinck- 
ney says of her children, — 

*^ As to fortune, he has left them enough, (if it 
please God to prosper it and keep this province 
191 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

out of the liaiids of the French) to make them 
happy and useful men if the}' are wise and good 
ones, if otherwise, (w?}' God forhid,) the greatest 
fortunes w*?. not he sufficient.'' 

She writes her arrangements fully to her 
agent, Mr. Morley : — 

^'The heginning of this j^ear there was such 
a fine prospect on our plantations of a great crop 
y " I was hopeful of clearing all that was due upon 
the estate, but the great drought in most parts of 
ye Country, such as I never remember here, dis- 
apointed those expectations so much, y.*. all that we 
make from y^^- planting interest will hardly defray 
ye charges of y- plantations; and upon our arrival 
here we found they wanted but axQvy thing, and 
every way in bad order, with ignorant and dis- 
honest overseers. 

^'My Nephew had no management of y?. planting 
interest, and my^ Brother who had it, by a stroke 
of the palsy had been long incapable of all busi- 
ness. I thank God there is now a prospect of 
things being differently conducted. I have pre- 
vailed upon a conspicuous good man (who by liis 
industry and honesty has raised a fine fortune for 
two orphxan children my dear Mr Pinckney was 
guardian to,) to undertake the direction and inspec- 
tion of tlie overseers. He is an excellent planter, 
a dutchman, originally Servant and overseer to Mr 
Golightlj^, who lias been much solicited to under- 
take for many Gentlemen, but as he has no family 
192 



rUE INDIAN WARS 

but a wifo, and is comfortable enough in his cir- 
cumstances, refuses to do for any but women «& 
cliildren, who are not able to do for themselves. 
So if it please God to prosper us and send good 
Seasons I hope to Clear all next year. I find it 
requires great care and attention to attend to a 
Carolina Estate, tho' but a moderate one, and to 
do one's duty, and make all turn to ace*. I have 
as much business of one kind & another as I can go 
through; perhaps 'tis better for me, and I believe 
it is, had there not been a necessity for it I might 
have sunk to the grave by this time, in that Leth- 
argy of stupidity w?!^ had seized me.'' 

There are letters of the same tone to Lady 
Carew, Mrs. King, and others, generally too 
sad for publication. 

Li the mean while, while her own sorrows and 
duties had absorbed all of Mrs. Pinckney's atten- 
tion, public affairs in the Colony were increas- 
ing in gravity. The Indians were threatening 
the back settlements, and there is occasionally 
a word or two of them, as, — " Our last accounts 
from ye Cherokees are more agreeable than 
we have had in a great while," etc. 

At last the outbreak came. She writes : 

To Mr Alorleu ,^ « , -„ 

^ Nov."-. S-:^ 1759 

Dear Sir, — As I wrote you y.«. 19'.'.' of Septf. 't is 

not necessary to trouble you again so soon, but I 

13 103 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

can't resist the temptation of writing to you by a 
Man of Warr that will sail immediately. . . . The 
papers will inform you of our publick transactions, 
and tha;t the Governor with a body of men set out 
on fry day ye 26*^ Oct.^ for the Cherokee nation in 
order to obtain satisfaction for the murders com- 
mitted by them, and make a good peace at the 
head of an army, or take satisfaction by carrying the 
warr into their own Country; thej^ have been very 
insolent and 't is high time they were chastised. 

Be so good as to asure my dear boys we think 
ourselves very safe in C- Town, or tliey may be 
frightened on the rumour of an Indian Warr, My 
blessing attend them both, etc etc. 

Be so good to forward the inclosed letters to Sir 
Richard Lyttelton and Miss Mackartney, as di- 
rected in the safest manner possible, and place any 
expence attending it to my account. I congratu- 
late you on the taking of Quebec, but shall mj^self 
more on hearing you and my dear boys are well by 
this fleet, (w*"^ Heaven grant I may, for there 
all my little remains of earthly happiness is fixt, 
when my dear Girl is joyn*?., who is I thank God 
a good child and well; she says she can't send her 
comp^.t® to such an old gentleman & good friend as 
Mr Morley, and begs I would give her duty to you 
etc etc 

Sent by the Trent Man of Warr Cap. I Lindsay. 

That people on the coast should be in any 
personal danger from the Cherokee Indians, 
194 



THE INDIAN WARS 

who lived where Greenville and Pendleton are 
now, seems ludicrous enough ; but events cast 
shadows behind as well as before, and it was 
not more than forty years since scalps had been 
taken within twenty miles of Charles Town, 
when Stono and Goosecreek were raided by the 
savages. 

Mr. Pinckney had known Governor (after- 
wards Lord) Lyttelton officially in England ; 
the acquaintance had become friendship in 
America ; and Mrs. Pinckney, during the gov- 
ernor s absence in "ye Cherokees," seems to 
have undertaken to forward his private letters, 
as there are frequent notices of packages for- 
warded through the obliging Mr. Morley, or 
" Mems." like this : — 

*' Wrote to his Excellency Gov'. Lyttelton at y^ 
Cherokees, and informed him I had forwarded 
two of his letters to England, by y?. Brigantine 
Spy, Cap.'. Lyford, to Bristol/' 

From which we must conclude, as Miss Mac- 
kartney was the young lady to whom the gov- 
ernor was engaged, that he did not wish to 
send his love-letters through the Colonial Office. 
The anxiety did not at this time last very 
long, for in February, 1760, Mrs. Pinckney 
writes : — 

195 



ELIZA PIl\CKNEY 

The Hon^}f Mrs King — 

Gov-"". Lyttelton with his army are safely re- 
turned from their Cherokee Expedition; the first 
array that ever attempted to go into that wild 
coiintrj'-. They had been ver}^ insolent & com- 
mitted many murders and outrages in our back 
settlements, nor ever expected white men would 
have resolution enough to march up their moun- 
tains. Mr Lyttelton has acted with great spirit 
and conduct and gained much honour in the affair, 
& obtaind from them, what Indians never before 
granted, such of the murderers as they could then 
take, and Hostages for the rest till they could be 
taken. If you have any curiosity to know more 
particulars, Mr Morley to whom I enclose it, can 
furnish you with the Carolina Gazett. 

To Vigorous Edwards EsqT. 

We should b}^ this time have been engaged in 
an Indian Warr, (the most dreadful of all Warrs) 
had our Gov- acted with less judgment and reso- 
lution. He marched an army into their Country 
and demanded satisfaction at yl head of it for the 
murders they had committed, or would take it. 
They were much alarmed, pretended it was only 
some of their hot headed young men, and not 
aproved by the whole. AVould have excused giving 
the criminals up by saying the}^ could not be found, 
but after some time brouglit some of them in and 
gave Hostages for the rest. 

A Treaty of Peace and Friendship was concluded 
196 



THE INDIAN WARS 

upon it, and I hope and we have great reason to 
believe, we are upon a better footing with those 
people than we have been for many years. 

These pleasing hopes were fulfilled as little 
as such hopes have been but recently. When 
was "a Treaty of Peace and Friendship" with 
Indians ever observed, and oaths on either side 
unbroken ? His contemporaries seem to have 
applauded Governor Lyttelton, but subsequent 
historians have said that he was high-handed 
and injudicious, and provoked rather than ap- 
peased the savages. He had not left the Prov- 
ince when the trouble was renewed ; and the 
scourge of small-pox mentioned in the follow- 
ing letter was said to have been brought back 
by his troops from the Indian country where it 
was raging, — Nemesis in the most loathsome 
form : — 

March 15 1760. 
To Mrs Evance. 

A great cloud seems at present to hang over 
this province, w^e are continually insulted by the 
Indians on our back settlements, and a violent 
kind of small pox that rages in C'.? Town almost 
puts a stop to all business. Sevral of those I 
have to transact business with are fled into the 
country, but by the Divine blessing I hope a month 
or two will change the prospect; we expect shortly 
troops from Gen. I Audierst w'^.'? I trust will be able 
197 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

to manage these savage enemies; and y?- small- 
pox as it does not spread in y?. Country, must be 
soon over for want of subjects. 

I am now at Belmont to keep my people out of 
ye way of ^-e violent distemper, for the poor blacks 
have died very fast even by inoculation; but y.^ 
people in C- Town were inoculation mad, I think 
I may call it, and rusW- into it with such presipita- 
tion y* I think it impossible they could have had 
either a proper preparation or attendance, had there 
been 10 Doctors in town to one. The Doctors 
could not help it the people would not be said 
nay. We lose with this fleet our good Governor 
Lyttelton, he goes home in the Trent Man of 
Warr, before he goes to his new Government at 
Jamaica. 

Poor John Motte who was inoculated in Eng- 
land, is now very bad with ye small-pox, it could 
never have taken then to be sure. [John Motte 
recovered, so probably the imperfect inoculation 
helped.] 

June 19th 1760 

I am just going out of town for a little air and 
Exercise, having I tliank God finished my superin- 
tendancy over a little smallpox Hospital ; a very 
small one indeed, as it did not contain more than 
15 patients. I lost only one, who took it in y® 
natural way. 

Your brother Mr J. Raven who comes to Eng- 
land for his health, will deliv^er you this . . . 
he has been so good to take charge of my dear Mr 
198 



THE INDIAN WARS 

Pinckney's picture w*:!* I send to his children that 
y- idea of his person may not wear out of their 
Infant minds. I make no doubt they will venerate 
even his shadow, and I daresay you will be so good 
to give it a place in y.^ parlour for y.! present if 't is 
not very inconvenient. I hope to send Mr Morley 
another bill this summer, and when 'tis received I 
beg ye favour of you to get a decent plain frame 
for it. When I am able I shall get it coppy^. by a 
better hand than could be got here. 

Two copies of this picture of the Chief Jus- 
tice, in a very neglige costume of dressing- 
gown and velvet cap, such as was held to indi- 
cate learned repose, are still in existence. 
They show a pleasant, bluff face, dark-eyed 
and cheery, with no beauty of feature but a 
happy, friendly expression. No likeness of 
Mrs. Pinckney is ever known to have been 
taken. 

The troops sent from General Amherst were 
under the command of the gallant Colonel 
Montgomery, and mucli- was expected from 
them. The disappointment was therefore sore. 

^ ,, ,, , Belmont July 19V? 1760 

To Mr Morley -^ 

Our Indian affairs are in a poor way, Col. 
Montgomerie at the head of sixteen hundred men — 
including rangers, marched into the middle Chero- 
kee Country and destroyd five towns, w'^^ raised the 
199 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

spirrits of the People much ; but while we imagind 
he was proceeding to Fort London he began his 
march towards C- Town, in order to return to 
Geni Amherst, in consequence of whose orders 't is 
said he returns. Ye Governor by order of ye 
Assembly, has sent to desire his continuing in ye 
Nation, we impatiently wait his answer, as we also 
do one to an Express sent to Gen.l Amherst. We 
have no doubt but the Creeks will soon joyn ye 
Cherokees. 

Militai'y necessity must be obeyed, and Mont- 
gomery went. The Carolinians not unnaturally 
thought themselves sacrificed to the Canadian 
campaign ; and tlie following letter shows the 
jealousy with which the "old Colonies" looked 
upon the new conquests which England was 
then making to the north. 

July — 
To the Hon Mrs King — 

I had the honour of yours of y ?. 16^'> Feb^. last with 
yours and the young ladies XQvy gentile present to 
Harriott; 't is a most compleat suit and universally 
admired. The fann I think a curiosity, and the 
pompon the prettiest we ever saw. The little girl 
is quite happy, and the more so as they are the 
first that have reacW. this part of the world; so 
she has the opportunity of seting the fashion, & I 
doubt whether she would part with them to pur- 
chase a peace with the Cherokees, who are become 
extreamlj^ troublesome to us, nor have the highland 
200 



THE INDIAN WARS 

troops under Col. Montgomerie, (sent by Gen.) 
Amherst) done much more than exasperate the 
Indians to more cruel revenge, and they are now 
about to leave us to the mercy of these Barbarians, 
I hope the good people of England won't give all 
their superfluous mony away to French prisoners, 
or to build foreign Churches, but reserve some for 
their poor fellow subjects in America; for if they 
go on to make new Conquests in America, and 
neglect the protection of their old Colonys they 
may soon have importations of distressd people 
from the south wardmost part of North America 
to exercise their charity upon. 

My respectful compliments wait on Mr King, 
he obliges me very much by imploying me to get 
him Seeds. If tJiere is any kind we have that 
escapes me I hope he will be so good as to mention 
them. Our tallest trees are Oaks w'^.l' we have of 
various sorts, pines and Magnolias, w*'^ in low 
moist land such as at Ockham Court, grows to a 
very great height, and is a most beautiful tree, as 
well 'a's the tall Bay, w^- grows to a prodigious 
height. Neither the acorns nor cones are yet ripe 
enough to gather or I would have sent them by tliis 
ship, but will certainly do so by the first when 
they are ripe. . . . 

Soon after this letter was written, Mrs. 
Pinckney had a very severe illness which con- 
fined her to her room for four months. Her 
friends wei'e alarmed, and in the kindly fashion 

201 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

of the place offered their houses for change of 
air. One of them, Mrs. Shubrick, the ancestress 
of the many gallant sailors of that name, offers 
to " send my charriot to bring you in the morn- 
ing or if you can venture in a chaise come to 
night." She does not seem to liave accepted 
the invitations, however ; and when the illness 
is over she writes to Lady Carew that she is, 
" thanks be to Heaven," better than for three 
years before, and from this time, February, 
1761, there is perceptibly more cheerfulness in 
her tone. 

The Indian troubles were not over ; and on 
the horrible principle of fighting the devil with 
fire, the general sent them some " Mohocks " 
to help in the next campaign. 

To Mrs King 

As soon [after her illness] as I was able I in- 
quired how my directions about the Seeds had been 
observed, and tho' I had sent positive orders to 
three places for diferent sorts they were observed 
but at one, poor Mr Drayton had also promised me 
a large quantity of Magnolia and Bay seed, but he 
was taken ill about the same time that I was and 
died. I am a good deal mortified at the disap- 
pointment as there will be a year lost by it, but 
please God I live this year I will not only send the 
seeds but plant a nursery and send you plants 2 
year old, and I think I know a method that will 
202 



THE INDIAN WARS 

preserve the trees very well, by w*:!" means you will 
save 2 if not 3 years growth for I believe a tree 
will grow as much in 2 years here as in 4 or 5 in 
England . . . 

Our hopes and expectations are a good deal raised 
by the great fleet w':^ we are told is bound from 
England for America this Spring. We flatter 
ourselves they will take the Mississippi in their 
way, w':^ if the}^ succeed in must put an end to all 
our Indian Warrs, as they could never molest us if 
ye french from thence did not supply them with 
arms and ammunition. 

Our army has marchd for the Cherokee Nation, 
they consist of regular troops and Provincials, 't is 
a disagreable Service, but they have this to com- 
fort them, whether they are successful or other- 
ways they may be pretty sure of gathering Laurels 
from the bounty of the English news writers, for 
after y*' encomiums upon ye last Cherokee Expedi- 
tion, there surely can nothing be done there that 
don't merrit praise ! 

If y?. 50 Mohocks arrive safe that we expect 
from Gen}. Amherst I hope we shall be able to 
quell those Barbarians, for the Mohocks are very 
fine men, (five of them are here now,) and they 
are lookd upon by y^ rest of y.^. Indians with 
dread and respect, for they think them the greatest 
warriors in the world. 

Many thanks to good Mr King for my beer, 
w*:^ came in very good order, and is extreamly 
good, 'tho it had a very long voyage and went first 
203 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

to Lisbon. My comp'?.*^ wait on my Lady & Lord 
King & the young Ladies. Harriott is out of town 
with Lady Mary Drayton, & don't know when the 
fleet sails or would do herself the honour to write 
to Miss Wilhelmina. 

By the time that this last campaign (which 
was commanded by Colonel Grant) had begun, 
things had come to an evil pass. The governor 
then, however, was a native Carolinian, William 
Bull, — a man of spirit and energy ; at his call 
the Province, no longer relying upon the regular 
troops, gathered itself for a supreme effort and 
raised men and money to its utmost resources. 
The Provincials, mentioned by Mrs. Pinckney 
in a letter to Mrs. King, were formed into a regi- 
ment commanded by Colonel Thomas Middleton, 
of the distinguished family of the same name. 
In this " very disagreeable service " Moultrie, 
Marion, Pickens, and many other gentlemen 
who were to win reputation in the Revolution 
made their first campaign. 

They had a very different experience from 
Lyttelton's bloodless expedition. The Indians 
fought with desperation ; it was said that French 
officers in disguise directed their movements. 
The troops suffered from the nature of the 
country, as well as from the enemy. Many 
were killed, and their bodies were sunk in the 
river, as, had they been buried, the Indians 

204 



THE INDIAN WxiRS 

would have dug up and scali)ed the corpses. 
The woods through whicli the pursuit went 
were thick and tangled. The wi-iter has heard 
her grandmother say that her father described 
himself and his comrades as having their own 
and their horses' flesh mangled and torn, as 
they pressed through the thorny vines. In the 
end they were successful. The Indian towns 
and villages were laid waste ; horrible cruel- 
ties were no doubt inflicted, for among the 
Provincials were the survivors of many In- 
dian outrages ; and at last the warriors sued for 
peace. 

There were meetings and conferences. The 
leading chief, Attakullakulla, and Governor 
Bull, made speeches and smoked pipes, terms 
and boundaries were agreed upon, and the land 
had rest for fifteen years. 

As generally happens when regular and 
irregular troops act together, there were dis- 
sensions. Grant accused the Provincials of 
insubordination; and Middleton, denying the 
charge, wrote a pamphlet in defence of the 
conduct of his men. 

But whether the charge were just or unjust, 
a lesson had been taught — and learned. It was 
not subordination that the colonists needed, but 
independence and self-reliance. When Mont- 
gomery sailed away to new conquests, leaving 
205 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

the " old Colonys " to keep their own bounds, 
and when the Provincials found that they 
could share the victory with Grant's hardy 
veterans, it was but one step more to keep- 
ing their bounds alone, and keeping them for 
themselves. 



206 



XI 
LETTERS TO ENGLISH FRIENDS 

1760-1762 

The next few years passed uneventfully for 
]\rrs. Pinckney and her family. She had some 
anxiety on account of the health of her younger 
boy, to whom there are loving messages ; in 
writing to Mrs. Evance, she says, — 

^^It was very good in you to take my dear little 
creature to Bath, he gives a proof how well he 
knows his Mama, when he says he knows she will 
not be angry with you for giving him pleasure, 
but tell the dear saucy Boy one scrip of a penn from 
his hand, would have given his Mama more joy 
than all y^ pleasures of Bath could him.'' 

And again : — • 

**My blessing attend my dear little man, and 
tell him how much pleasure it gives bis Mama 
to see his little scrawl, if 't is but in writing his 



The scrawl improved, for in a letter to the 
teacher, Mr. Gerrard, she says, — 

207 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

" My blessings and prayers ever attend my dear 
Children. I am much pleased with their letters, 
Charles has long wrote well, but no one but my- 
self will believe that Tomm wrote one of those 
signd with his name, the writing is so much be- 
yond what the}^ think a child of his age caj^able of, 
but I know his brother wrote as well at his age and 
tell my dear little boy I don't imagine he will come 
short of his brother or any body else, in anything 
that is good and laudable." 

It is touching to see how early this good 
mother begins to impress on her eldest son 
that he must soon be the head of the family, 
and as such protect and cherish the younger 
children. "I will do all that I can," she says, 
" but on you all must soon depend ; " and to 
the little boy, to wdiom she is very tender, it is 
always an exhortation to follow in his brother's 
footsteps, — to " do like him." 

The mutual obligations so inculcated they 
never forgot ; the closest friendship always 
united them, and their devotion to their sister 
was unbounded. The writer has heard that 
in discussing the abolition of the law of primo- 
geniture, after the Revolution, General Thomas 
Pinckney said that the changed condition of 
things had evidently made it necessary to abol- 
ish the law, but that he himself (the younger 
son) had received much good from its moral 
208 



LETTERS TO ENGLISH FRIENDS 

effect. " I never felt myself as fatherless as I 
should liave done, had I not had my brother to 
look to as an authority, and he always felt 
a paternal responsibility towards me, when wo 
were alone at school." 

The brothers had been removed from Mr. 
Gerrard's to a school at Kensington, which it 
was hoped would agree better with the little 
boy's health ; but the elder did not remain there 
more than a year, for as he would soon " be 
turned of fifteen," it was time for him to be at 
Westminster. His mother writes, — 

To C. C. P. ^^^^ ^'^^^ 

'T is with the greatest satisfaction ray dear 
Charles that I acknowledge the receipt of yT. letter 
by Mr Smith. You have my best thanks my dear 
boy for the comfort and pleasure that letter gave 
me, w*:!^ I do assure you was not a little. I, and 
some of our friends here that I have consulted 
think it high time you were fitted for the Uni- 
versity; of all the Publick schools Westminster I 
think is to be preferred, and therefore should 
choose you should go there. Master Tomm Evance's 
going to Warrington would be a great inducement 
to yr. going there also, but I tliink the distance you 
must then be from your dear brother will be too 
great; besides I am informd the Business of that 
school is to fitt young Gent*:^ for the Ministry, and 
as you are not to be brought up to the Church, it 
14 209 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

will not do so well for you. Harrow, I think can 
hardly be called a publick school, and as Doct!". Thack- 
eray is dead I don't think of that; others advise 
rather to a private Tutor than any publick school. 
There is indeed an objection to all publick schools, 
and a great one if 't is true that the Morrals of 
Youth are taken little care of; but I have so good 
an oppinion of your sobriety and modesty, and 
flatter myself you have rather a serious than wild 
turn of mind, that I hope I may venture to trust 
you to Westminster, without running any risk of 
what must be fatal to me as well as to yourself, viz.*. 
corrupt principles; for be asured ray dear Child, I 
would not hesitate a moment were it in my choice 
whether I would have you a learned man with every 
accomplishment, or a good man, without any; but 
as I hope you will be both I commit you to the Di- 
vine Protection and guidance ... it will require 
your utmost vigilance to watch over your passions 
as well as your constant attendance at the Throne 
of Grace; be particularly watchful against heat of 
temper, it makes constant work for repentance and 
chagrine, and is often productive of the greatest 
mischiefs and misfortunes, . . . 

^T is with the utmost reluctance that I think of 
separating you from your dear Brother tho' the dis- 
tance is so small I doubt not you will often see him. 

In April of the same year she wrote again : 

''I received 3'our dutiful and affectionate letter 
by Ball, who alsoe brought me a very pretty one 
210 



LETTERS TO ENGLISH FRIENDS 

from my dear little Tomm, for w»^ I tliank you 
both most heartily. In your letter you mention 
going to the Charter House. I own I prefer, and 
most people I know do, Westminster, and in answer 
to what you say of being nearer to Mrs Evance's 
care at y^ Charter House, I think if a youth for 
his own sake will not be careful of his conduct, 
two or three mile distant from his guardians, I 
fear all the pains they ma}'- take a little nearer 
will be ineffectual. 

^Trom you my dear Child I hope better things 
for tho' you are very young, you must know the 
welfair of a whole family depends in a great mea- 
sure on the progress you make in morral Virtue, 
Keligion and Learning, and I don't doubt but the 
Almighty will give jow. Grace to answer all our 
hopes. If you do your part, in order to which 
endeavour to fort i fie yourself against those Errors 
into w':^ you are most easily led by propensity. 
What I most fear for you is heat of temper. ..." 

Charles Cotesworth accordingly went to 
Westminster ; his brother followed him four 
years later ; and both satisfied their mother's 
fondest hopes, becomino; excellent scholars 
and receiving uniformly the highest praise for 
conduct and character from masters and tutors. 
" Little Tomm " became the " Grecian " of his 
year at Westminster, and therefore " Cap- 
tain of the Town Boys," and is said to have 
211 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

been the only American who ever held that 
position. 

Satisfied about her sons, their mother could 
devote herself with an easy mind to her 
daughter, and to her favorite pursuits. Of her 
daughter she writes : — 

[Address Wanting.] 

*^ Your little fellow traveller, who is very much 
obliged for your kind remembrance of her, is I thank 
God, perfectly well, has her usual spirrits and grows 
tall; she will write to you herself and return you 
thanks for the books you were so good to send her. 
She is fond of learning, and I indulge her in it; 
it shall not be my fault if she roams abroad for 
amusement, as I believe 't is want of knowing how 
to imploy themselves agreeably, that makes many 
women too fond of going abroad." 

In writing to Mrs. King, she says of her 
daughter, — 

^^ Harriott writes to Miss Wilhemina by this 
opportunity, and I am greatl}'^ obliged to that 
young lady for the pretty manner in which she 
conveys advice to her, w?^ (especially to one of 
Harriotts lively disposition) will be more service- 
able, than graver lectures might be from older 
people, besides her great fondness, (in which she 
is very constant,) to Miss W. K." 

One of Miss King's letters has been pre- 
served. Girls in those days grew up fright- 

212 



LETTERS TO ENGLISH FRIENDS 

fully fast, marriages at fourteen being not 
uncommon (though Mrs. Pinckney did not 
approve them ) ; but this strikes us at the 
present time as a curious letter to be addressed 
to a little damsel of twelve : — 

From Miss King to Miss Pinckney. 

OcKHAM Court Octr. 19 1760 
My Sister desires her best Compts. to yself ^ Mrs 
Pinckney 

My dear Miss Pinckney, — I was made happy 
with the receipt of your last favour, dated y.! 25^.^ 
of Marcli, and am quite ashamed to find I must 
begin this with Condemning myself, in hopes you 
will upon that Consideration, deal more kindly with 
me. Indeed my dear Harriott must think me very 
remiss, but flatter myself you will forgive this 
once, when I declare it has not been in the least 
owing to Neglect or Forgettfullness, but have 
been absent from home four months this Summer, 
which I have had the pleasure of spending with 
my Friend Miss Upton, at her house Strood, in 
Sussex, a very pretty retired place; and could I 
have found time to have done myself this pleasure, 
I would have addressed myself out of the Wealds of 
Sussex, as my Harry did out of those remoter ones 
of America. But being upon rambling party's, 
and either only us two or a houseful of company, 
it made it impossible for me to give my friends 
that proof of my remembrance of tlieni that they 
had a right to expect etc etc etc — 
21.3 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

Mama writes by this opportunity to Mrs Pinck- 
ney, so take for granted She will mention all State 
News; as for any private, the World is so taken up 
with the Publick, that we hardly hear any of that 
Sort. We have lost the Celebrated Countess of 
Coventry, who 'tho so young a woman, lived to be 
Blind and Deaf, and so emmaciated that her Dearest 
friends looked upon it as a happy Deliverance when 
Death releaved her. Her sister the Duchess of 
Hamilton is going to f ranee, to try if that will 
prevent her going the same way. She is very Bad. 
The deaths of Ladys Besborough, Granby, Lincoln 
and Anson, are great Warnings to the Gay part of 
the World, who saw them in a manner T>yQ before 
them their Illness was so short; but Gaity and 
E-eflection seldom go together, at least in London 
Town. I make no doubt but they often meet in 
America, & imagine I see them in full force in 
Miss Pinckney. But my dear, I expect a long 
letter very soon, for in Mrs Pinckney's last she 
mentioned something of that Kind, and then in 
return will tell 3^ou that we are here pretty much, 
the same as you left us excepting so much older. 

Mrs Bonney has five fine children. Mrs Onslow 
having her Colonel taken from her to go to Ger- 
many, is gone with her daughter to old Mrs Onslow 
at Cookham. Mrs Chattfield & her family are in 
statu-quo, only being a Doctress, liked very lately 
to have killed herself, by taking a wrong medicine 
by mistake, but is now quite recovered, and I hope 
wiser by Experience. 

214 



LETTERS TO ENGLISH FRIENDS 

Having now given you a true state of affairs 
round Ilippley must, time being short, Conclude 
myself my dear Harriott's most Sincere and Con- 
stant Friend and Well Wisher 

WiLIIELMINA KlXG 

Pra}^ make my best compliments acceptable to 
Mrs Pinckney, & my correspondent, who I fancy 
has outgrown me. 

Public news soon became very interesting, 
for old King George II. died suddenly one 
morning when no one in the least expected it, 
and the young King — the first English king 
for three generations — reigned in his stead. 
People said that the once beautiful Countess of 
Coventry, had she known how soon the King 
would die, would have contrived to live a little 
longer, for she had been so maladroit as to tell 
the old man some time before " that the one 
sight she most wished to see was a Corona- 
tion." Old George only laughed : the lovely 
Gunning could say anything; but he lived 
long enough to disappoint her. 

George HI. soon gratified his enthusiastic 
subjects with a coronation and a royal wed- 
ding to boot, — news greeted joyously even in 
the " southwardest parts of America." Mrs. 
Pinckney wrote : — 

215 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

To Mrs King. ^""^^ l^'^^ 

How my dear Madam could you think of this 
remote spott, in the midst of the splendour of 
royal Weddings, Coronations, Gay Courts, and all 
the chearfulness that follows in their trains ? You 
can't think how many people you have gratified by 
your obliging me with so particular a description 
of the Queen. We had no picture of her Majesty, 
nor description that could be depended upon, till 
I received your favour, and what was excessively 
provoking, the few friends that wrote to me, did 
not doubt but that I had had a description of the 
Queen and Coronation from others, and therefore 
was most mortifyingly silent. If Madam, you have 
ever been witness to the impatience of the people 
of England about a hundred mile from London, to 
be made acquainted with what passes there, you 
may guess a little at what an impatience is here, 
when I inform you that the curiosity increases 
with the distance from the Centre of affairs, and 
our impatience is not to be equal 'd ^vith any peo- 
ples within less than four thousand mile. 

Lady Ann Atkin happen*^, to be with me when 
I rec*^ your favour. I told her as she was a lady 
of Quality she should be first treated with a de- 
scription of her Majesty, but not a Plebeian out of 
my own family' should hear a word of the matter 
that day. In half an hour after I was favoured with 
a vizet from our new Governor Mr Boone, lately 
arrived here from his former Government in the 
216 



LETTERS TO ENGLISH FRIENDS 

Jersejs, who I found, (tlio' he has an extensive 
good acquaintance in England,) knew as little of 
ye new Queen as we did here, I had the pleasure 
to read him also the description, and the next day 
numbers received the same sort of pleasure, all 
smiled at least at the new fashiond name for the 
colour of her hair, w*:!' indeed I should not have 
guessed at, had you not been so obliging to tell me 
what it was ; upon the whole I am a verj^ loyal 
subject, and had my share of joy in ye agreable 
account of my Sovereign and his Consort. . . . 

I hope the seeds I now send Mr King will 
arrive safe and in good order — - The seed of the 
flowering shrub I now send Miss Kings I found 
wild in the woods, and have named it the Royal 
Purple, its colours are gold and purple, but if 
they chuse to alter it in honour of the Queen or 
any thing else, I have no objection. 

I can't conceive how such an improlJable story 
as ray going to be married could be invented here, 
and promulgated to such a distance as Ripley, 
though very small appearances give rise to those 
things in this part of the world, and upon recollec- 
tion I sopose it must arise from an offer I had 
about that time, w'^.^ in point of fortune must have 
been to ray advantage, but as entering into a second 
raarriage never once entered my head, and as little 
into my inclination, and I am persuaded never will, 
the affair took not a moment's hesitation to deter- 
mine, and indeed I did not think it could have got 
air enough to have wafted it to England. 

217 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

The obliging Maimer in w-.^ you mention my 
dear Charles is very Hattering to me. He must 
disapoint my hopes of his Judgement greatly if he 
does not make use of every opportunity you are so 
good to allow him, of improving so valuable an 
acquaintance. 

When my dear Mad'" shall we have Peace? 
Till then I have little prospect of seeing my Chil- 
dren and friends in England, and a Spanish warr 
we are now told is inevitable ; we are prett^^ quiet 
here just now but 'tis much feared it will continue 
no longer than the winter. We never was so taxed 
in our lives, but what is our taxes to yours ! 
However we are but a young Colony and our Seas 
do not throw up sands of gold, as surely the Brit- 
ish does to enable 3^ou to bear such prodigious 
Expenses. 

These were certainly loyal hearts which the 
young sovereign was so soon to throw away. 
The poor little Queen — to be the most un- 
happy and sorely tried of devoted wives — 
could not by any powers of description be made 
lovely. '' Very agreable " is the best that can 
be said, — even at the distance of four thou- 
sand miles. 

Mrs. Pinckney also sent her friend two of 
the most distinctive Carolinian plants, — the 
sweet myrtle, which scents the woods through- 
out the coast regions, and bears the wax-pro- 

218 



LETTERS TO ENGLISH FRIEXDS 

ducing berries from whicli pale-green candles 
are^ made ; and also one which she curiously 
miscalls. 

^*I thought the jilants you received w- he a 
pretty ornament for my Lord's Greenhouse. 'Tis 
the Pimento Royal and hears the most noble bunch 
of flowers I ever saw. The main stem of the bunch 
is a foot and a half or two foot long, with some 
Imndreds of white flowers hanging pendant upon 
it; 't is a native of this Country, but I doubt if it 
will do out of doors in England." 

By this she evidently means the Palmetto 
Royal, the very appropriate local name of 
which is the " Spanish Bayonet," so called 
from the sharp, hard, dagger-like point formed 
by its terminal leaves. A spire of these ivory 
bells, rising from the encircling spikes and 
filling the air with heavy almond fragrance, 
is indeed a beautiful, picturesque object. 

Sneers at female friendship are most common, 
but Mrs. Pinckney, like the lovely Madame 
R^camier, might be said to have " a genius for 
friendship " : she was so fortunate as not 
only to feel, but to inspire it ; in almost every 
letter that she writes to her English friends, 
she acknowledges the receipt of two or three 
from them, and evidently the correspondence 
was not more sought by her than by them. 
219 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

This from Englisli ladies and gentlemen, most 
of them of a rank supei'ior to her own (and 
rank was a thing of value in those days), and 
to a person from whom they had nothing to 
gain, and in a remote part of the world, shows 
how much her own personal qualities must 
have influenced them. 

The following letters show this side of her 
character. The first is to her old and trusted 
friend, 

Mr Morley, Somerset House. 

I received your favours of ye 27*- Jany & 17- 
Eeby with ye greatest possible pleasure, for 'tho 
many have reason, none can have more to rejoyce 
at 3^onr perfect recovery than myself, and I pray 
that the Almighty may long continue you in per- 
fect health a blessing to me and mine and the 
rest of y."". friends. ... If you knew the pleasure 
the sight of your handwriting gives to my whole 
famil}^, I am sure you w- never regret the trouble 
you are att in writing frequently to me. Some of 
the very Slaves know y- hand and rejoj^ce to see 
a letter directed by jow, they know it will put 
their Mistress in great good humour, and consi- 
quently make everything around her as hapj^y as 
she can. 

Mr. Morley's letters, always bringing news 
of her sons, were of especial value to her. To 
her oldest English friend she writes of the 
same precious boys : — 

220 



LETTERS TO ENGLISH FRIENDS 

To Lady Carew — 

Why my dear Madam do you give yourself so 
much trouble with my rough school boys? They 
are indeed with their Sister the darlings of my 
heart, the subjects of my daily thoughts and nightly 
dreams, but a 'Miow doo '' now and then would 
give them and me sufficient honour and much 
pleasure ; but I can't think without blushing of 
your Ladyship troubling yourself with them at 
home, for we all know what children are, es- 
pecially schoolboys — the best of them must be 
troublesome. 

Lady Carew's daughter had died only about 
a year before this letter was written, so that 
it was doubly kind of her to have the boys at 
Beddington. 

Other friends w^ere the Onslows, important 
people in Surrey, the head of the family being 
for a long time Speaker of the House of Com- 
mons. Mrs Pinckney closes a letter to Mrs. 
Onslow as follows : — 

^^lam glad Colonel Onslow takes pleasure in his 
garden; I think it an innocent and delightful 
amusement. I have a little Hovel [Belmont !] 
about 5 mile from town, quite in a forest where I 
find much amusement 4 or 5 months in the year, 
and where I have room enough to exercise my 
Genius that way, if I had anv; however I please 
myself and a few that are partial to me. I am 
221 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

myself head gardener and I believe work innch 
harder than most principal ones. We found it in 
ruins when we arrived from England, so that we 
have had a wood to clear, and indeed it was laid 
out in the old taste, so that I have been modern- 
izing it w*^" has afforded me much imployment. 

''Being a sort of enthusiast in my Veneration 
for fine trees, I look upon the destroyers of Pyr- 
ford Avenue as sacriligious Enemies to posterity, 
and upon an old oak with the reverencial Esteem 
of a Druid, it staggered my philosophy to bear 
with patience the Cuting down one remarkable 
fine tree, w*^!? was directed by an old man by mis- 
take, and I could not help being very angry with 
the old fellow tho' he had never offended me before. 
Indeed it was planted by my dear Mr Pincknej^'s 
own hand, w*^- made it doubly mortifying. What 
must Col?. Onslows vexation — or Philosophy, be, 
if he loves trees but half as well as I do, to see so 
many fallen, probably planted b}'- some of his 
Ancestors." 

Of all her correspondents there was no one 
whom Mrs. Pinckney valued more highly than 
Mr. Keate, a literary man, the author of several 
now forgotten books. He Avas then much 
esteemed, and The Pelew Islands and other 
works, bound in calf, occupied an honorable, 
— and untroubled — place on the plantation 
bookshelves until recent years. He was also 
a traveller, and a member of the friendly circle 

222 



LETTERS TO ENGLISH FRIENDS 

in Surrey. This gentleman had been very 
kind in writing;, in noticing the boys, and in 
sending books to the little Harriott. To him 
Mrs. Pinckney, after excusing her own si- 
lence, wrote, in February, 1762, the following 
letter : — 

"Mr Morley informd me you were so kind to 
give him a letter for me, w'=.'> he inclosed with some 
others from my friends, and forwarded by the Bri- 
tannia, but unluckily for me she was taken by the 
french, and I lost my packet. I regret the loss 
so much that I look upon myself as one of the 
greatest sufferers by the Capture, for those that 
had their wealth on board were insured, while I 
lie entirely at your mercy to make me amends. 

'^What great doings you have had in England 
since I left it! You people that live in the great 
world in the midst of Scenes of entertainment and 
pleasure abroad, of improving studies and polite 
amusement at home, must be very good to think 
of your friends in this remote Corner of the Globe. 
I really think it a great virtue in you, and if I 
could conceal the selfish principle by w^^ I am actu- 
ated I could with a better grace attempt to persuade 
you that there is so much merrit in seting down at 
home and writing now and then to an old woman 
in the Wilds of America, that I believe I should 
take you off an hour sometimes from attending 
[illegible] and the other gay scenes you frequent. 

*'How different is the life we live here ! vizeting 
223 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

is the great and almost the only amusement of late 
years; however as to my own particular, I live 
agreeable enough to my own taste, as much so as 
I can separated from m}'^ dear boys. 

^'I love a garden and a book, and they are all 
my amusement, except I include one of the greatest 
businesses of my life, (my attention to my dear 
little girl,) under that article. A pleasure it cer- 
tainly is to cultivate the tender mind, to teach the 
young Idea how to shoot, etc especially to a mind 
so tractable, and a temper so sweet as hers; for I 
thank God I have an excellent soil to work upon, 
and by the Divine Grace hope the fruit will be 
answerable to my indeavours in yf. cultivation. 

^'I know not how to thank you sufficiently for 
your notice and yonx kindness to my poor boys, 
but if my prayers are pius enough to reach Heaven, 
you and yours are secure of every blessing, for I 
make none with more sincerity and devotion, than 
those that are offered for them and their friends. 

^*If you won't think me romantick I will com- 
municate a scheme I have, if I live a few years 
longer; not merely for the pleasure of scribbling 
a long letter, but because I really want your 
opinion and advice upon it; as your residence in 
Geneva must make you more ca2)able of judging cf 
the matter, than those that never were there. 

''Upon a Peace, (for T can't think of crossing 

the great Atlantic before that desirable time,) I 

intend to see England again, and after Charles has 

been two years at Oxford to go with my two bo^^s to 

224 



LETTERS TO ENGLISH FRIENDS 

finish their studies at Geneva. I must determine 
upon my plan before I leave this, be so good there- 
fore, at your leasure to tell me what you think of 
it. Harriott pays her Comp- ; she is much engaged 
just now with Geography and Musick, and 'tis 
high time to disengage your attention from this 
tedious Epistle by assuring you, " etc. etc. 



15 225 



XII 
DOMESTIC AND SOCIAL DETAILS 

1762-1769 

With the words ending the hist cliapter the 
letter-book stops abruptly. Wliy, we do not 
know, for tlicre are many blank pages. All 
the peo})lc of whom we have been reading — 
the Kings, Mr. Morley, Lady Carew, etc. — fade 
from sight. Tlieir letters have not been pre- 
served ; j)robably they were burned wnth the 
Chief Justice's papers at Auckland by Provost. 

Lady Carew died within the next few years, 
Sir Nicholas had no direct heir, and Bedding- 
ton is now a female orphan asylum. The Revo- 
lution probably broke off many friendships, and 
loosened tics of blood itself; but while Mrs. 
Pinckney's sons remained in England, Ihey 
continued to receive every mark of kindness 
and consideration from her friends. 

Little has hitherto been said of society in 
Charles Town, and in truth there is hardly any 
mention of it in the letters : they are the re- 
verse of gossii)ing, and the retired life natural 

226 



DOMESTIC AND SOCIAL DETAILS 

to the writer's widowed condition is frequently 
mentioned ; but now that that lively young 
lady, Miss Harriott Pinckney, was growing up, 
things changed somewhat; and in such letters 
as we have, there is from this time forward 
more frequent mention of friends and neighbors. 

Across all the years there come half a dozen 
little three-cornered notes, invitations to the 
country many of them, — " Governor Lyttelton 
will wait on the ladies at Belmont ; " *' Mrs. 
Drayton begs the pleasure of your company to 
spend a few days ; " Lady Ann Atkin (wife of the 
Commissioner for Indian Affairs), invites them 
urgently to spend the day; "Lord and Lady 
Charles Montagu's Comp'? to Mrs and ^liss 
Pinckney, and if it is agreable to them shall 
be glad of their Company at the Lodge ; " " Mrs 
Glen presents her Comp'?. to Mrs Pinckney and 
Mrs Hyrne, hopes they got no Cold, and begs 
Mrs Pinckney will detain Mrs Ilyrne from go- 
ing home till Monday, and that they (together 
with Miss Butler and the 3 young Lady's) will 
do her the favour to dine with her on Sun- 
day," etc., etc., — all showing an easy social 
life. 

We know that by this time, notwithstanding 
the drawbacks of the war and the new taxes 
left by the Indian campaigns, the Province 
was wealthy and the society gay and cultivated. 

227 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

Mrs. Pinckney had many sympathizers in her 
love for plants and flowers ; for besides the dis- 
tinguished botanist, Dr. Garden, already men- 
tioned, Mrs. Logan, the daughter of Governor 
Daniel (the last of the Proprietary Governors), 
was writing her Gardener's Calendar, and 
only two squares from her own house, the rich 
merchant, Henry Laurens (afterwards Presi- 
dent of the first Continental Congress), was 
filling his extensive grounds with every rare 
plant and shrub which his numerous commer- 
cial connections enabled him to collect. 

Literature received its share of attention. 
A club begun by the Rev. Dr. Clarke, Rector 
of St. Michael's, and the Rev. Dr. Hutson of 
the Independent Church (Mrs. Chardon's hus- 
band), stimulated the gentlemen to read and 
discuss the books with which they were sup- 
plied from the bookshop of Robert Wells, who 
for twenty-five years before the Revolution im.- 
ported " regularly and early " the new publi- 
cations. 

This club met once a montli at the houses 
of the different members, among whom were 
clergymen of three different denominations ; it 
is an instance of the liberality of the religious 
feeling which prevailed that their meetings 
always began with a short prayer offered by 
one or other of these gentlemen, and that 

228 



DOMESTIC AND SOCIAL DETAILS 

religious or literary topics previously agreed 
upon were discussed " without loss of har- 
mony." 

The old Provincial Library, founded in 1700, 
was still in existence ; and the Charles Town 
Library, founded in 1754, was described by 
Josiali Quincy, on his visit to Charles Town in 
1773, as a " handsome, square, spacious room, 
containing a large collection of very valuable 
books, prints, globes etc." 

It is curious that among such a gay and 
pleasure-loving people as the same acute ob- 
server declares the Carolinians to liave been, 
there was no permanent theatre. Plays had 
been represented on especial occasions, and 
there is mention of one "in the Court Room" 
as early as 1734. Two years later, " the new 
theatre in Dock S.!" (now Queen Street) is men- 
tioned, and a party of comedians from London 
play Cato, The Fair Penitent, etc. There 
were other attempts later, but they all fell 
through, and it was not until 1793 that, as the 
venerable artist, Charles Fraser, says, in his 
Reminiscences of Charleston, " all classes of 
the community were enchanted by the repre- 
sentations " which took place in the first per- 
manent " Charleston Theatre," — a handsome 
building which stood for years at the corner of 
Broad and New Streets. This was yet far in 

229 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

the future, and the failure is remarkable consid- 
ering the character of the people. 

Social associations were more successful. 
There is frequent mention of the " Dancing- 
Assembly," which Quincy says had ''bad music, 
good dancing, and elegantly disposed supper ; " 
and the St. Cecilia Society began its long and 
joyous existence in 1762. It was originally a 
musical club, all the performers being amateurs, 
gentlemen of the town. Of it Quincy says : 

<^The music was good, the two bass-viols and 
French horns were grand. There were upwards of 
two hundred and fifty ladies present, and it was 
called no great number. In loftiness of headdress 
these ladies stoop to the daughters of the North; 
in richness of dress surpass them. . . . The gen- 
tlemen, many of them dressed with richness and 
elegance uncommon with us ; many with swords 
on." 

These concerts were gradually changed to 
the ball-giving society of the present time, the 
name preserving the memory of its origin. 

Into this pleasant and lively society Mrs. 
Pinckney now introduced her daughter, who 
had been educated, as has been said, entirely 
at home under her own eye, strongly resem- 
bling her mother in character, and yet with 
those subtle differences which the generations 



2r.o 



DOMESTIC AND SOCIAL DETAILS 

The young lady was very pretty ; her por- 
trait, taken at eighteen, now, alas ! destroyed, 
sliowed a slender, graceful figure, taller than 
her mother (who, indeed, was small), a lovely 
complexion, blue eyes, and soft, curling, fair 
hair. The only likeness remaining, a minia- 
ture by Malbone, taken in middle life, shows 
that she had retained her beauty ; and family 
tradition adds that her voice v/as charming, 
and that her arms and hands were extremely 
fine. 

Suitors naturally presented themselves before 
long, and the following letters from the young 
lady show the first indications of the preference 
which resulted in marriage. They are written 
to a friend, a connection of the gentleman in 
question, who was evidently something of a 
match-maker, and helped to fan the flame. 

Jan?, ye 14t^ 1767 
My dear Miss E., — Tho' Wollaston has 
summon'd me to-day to put the finishing stroke to 
my Shadow which streightens me for time, I can't 
help sending a line (as Mr Tom Horry informs 
me there is an opportunity to Santee tomorrow,) 
to acknowledge your kind favour and very hand- 
some present. The Pincushion is very pretty, and 
the Housewife a beauty, but the richness and ele- 
gance of it will make it useless to me. 
231 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

Many thanks to you my good friend and to 
Mr Horry for y?. Justice you do me in contradicting 
so injurious an opinion as that of my being fonder 
of people of Quality, than of others of Merit. I 
have somehow, accidentally been flung in their way, 
Lady Charles [Lady Charles Montagu, the wife 
of the governor of the time] has show'd me every 
mark of condescending Tenderness and regard ; her 
partiallity for me has been uncommon, but if peoj^le 
were to consider that it is not owing to any merit 
in me, but to accidental circumstances, such as 
being within a few years of her own age, the near- 
ness of Neighbourhood, etc, I should attract less 
envy, and have an easier part to act than I at 
present have. . . . 

I daresay if my Mamma knew that it would 

be (as you sa}'-) a pleasure to Mr to vizet her 

often, she would not be backward in asking him to 
do so. 

You say very truly there is but one state of 
life I could be happier in, & I find you are for 
hurrying me into it as fast as you can by limiting 
me to a year ! I am greatly obliged to you for 
your good wishes on that head. Am I not an 
honest girl for allowing I may be happier, and 
thanking you for wishing me so ; but how can you 
fill a poor girl's head with conquests she has never 
made, and flatter her with notions merely ideal ? 
With much greater certainty I can asure you of 
Mama's and my best wishes for many happy 
returns of this season, etc., etc. 
232 



DOMESTIC AND SOCIAL DETAILS 

Again she writes to the same person : — 

''Tho' I little deserve it as I have a most kind 
and friendly letter from dear Miss R unan- 
swered, I had some faint hopes of a line from her 
by Mrs Motte. I should be more punctual in my 
Gorrispondence did I know of more opportunities 
to Santee, but Mr Horry is the only one I can 
depend upon. 

^'I should be sorry to behave with any particu- 
lar reserve to Mr Horry. If I have done so I can't 
account for it, I never intended it, and am not 
conscious I ever did, however shall endeavour to 
rectifie it for the future. In answer to y- question 
which of ye gentlemen is likely to succeed with 
Miss Golightly; I believe it is past a doubt with 
every body that Mr Huger is ye object of her 
affections; but her friends are so averse to it at 
j^resent, I can't say whether he will succeed or not. 
The world says before he offered Mr Horry had 
good reason to believe he should succeed, but this 
/ know nothing of, for as the Town compli- 
mented me with being the object of his attachment 
was I to ask questions, it would be taken notice of, 
& animadverted upon. ... I am glad you like 
the Books, I own I admire them & think a young 
woman of his forming a fine model to coppy after, 
and tho' I can never hope to arrive at the perfec- 
tion recommended in those Books, I shall read 
them frequently with pleasure, happy if I can 
catch in any great degree some of the many Virtues 
he recommends." 

283 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

There is no clew to the name of the books 
or of their author, but they can hardly have 
been by any other than " the great Mr Rich- 
ardson." 

The next letter is to the young lady spoken 
of above, — Miss Golightly, the belle of the mo- 
ment. She was the daughter of an English fam- 
ily now extinct in Carolina, who had long been 
friends of Mrs. Pinckney. It may be remem- 
bered that it was in their hospitable home that 
Mrs. Pinckney and her daughter had spent some 
months after the Chief Justice's death. 

It was one of the romantic stories that used 
to be told, as an instance of how even in that 
formal age " love would find out the way," that, 
her family being averse to the man of her heart, 
Miss Golightly at a ball one night picked up a 
straw hat which chanced to be lying on a bench, 
and, with no more preparation, stepped out of 
the long window into the garden and ran away 
to be married with Mr. Huger. 

Why her family had objected is not clear, for 
Mr. Huger, although not rich, was a man of 
position and character. The adventurous bride 
did not live very long, poor thing! but died, 
leaving one son. A lovely picture of her, with 
the straw hat hanging from her arm, is still in 
the possession of her descendants. Her hus- 
band married again, and it was at his planta- 
234 



DOMESTIC AND SOCIAL DETAILS 

tion, at the mouth of the Santee, that Lafayette 
lauded ou his first comiug to America. lu the 
Revolutiou he was killed by mistake by his own 
mcu, before the Hues of Charles Town ; and it 
was his son (by his second marriage), afterwards 
Colonel Francis Kinloch Iluger, who risked 
death and imprisonment to rescue Lafayette 
from the dungeons of Olmutz. 

The long intimacy between the families war- 
ranted the following letter : — 

My dear Dolly, — Mama sends you this 
piece of advice. Guard ivell your heart till you 
are sure you have ye favoured swain's in Possession. 
Let neither Comet nor blazing stars dazzle your 
Eyes; the Beauties that you are to seek are inter- 
nal ones, therefore you are to penetrate deeper, look 
through ye glitter and ye glare till you find that 
inestimable jewel a virtuous human heart, that will 
glitter with undiminished rays when ye brightness 
of gold is tarnish'd, and ye lustre of the diamond 
shall fail; however, you know I am not such an 
enemy to a fine coat to persuade you ladies that 
grow towards marriageable, to dislike a pretty fel- 
low the worse for wearing one, but I should wish 
it ye last attraction, if it were one at all, and in- 
deed I think it is the least so in your darling. 

Your wakening thoughts I know will help ye 
magical powers of ye Bride cake T send, to bring 
yf. favourite object to your View in Sleep. 
235 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

Your Commands to ye best of my power shall 

be punctually obeyed by 

My dear friend 

Yours affectionately 

Harriott Pinckney 
To Miss GoUghtly. 

The next letter is so gay and girlish that it 
is given as a specimen of light-hearted gossip. 
It is to Miss Izard, the daughter of Ealph 
Izard, Esq., of the distinguished Carolina fam- 
ily of that name. Among Miss Izard's sisters 
were Mrs. Blake of Newington (her husband 
a descendant of Governor Blake), Mrs. Miles 
Brewton, Mrs. Bull, and Lady William Camp- 
bell, the wife of the last royal governor of 
South Carolina. She herself married Colonel 
Colin Campbell of the British army. 

Mrs. Blake was Miss Pinckney's most inti- 
mate friend ; they exchanged portraits, as was 
the fashion of their time, and Mrs. Blake's, 
graceful in gray satin and pearls, still hangs 
in the house of Miss Pinckney's great-grand- 
daughter. " The Barony," mentioned in the 
letter, was one of those granted to the Lords 
Proprietors. It was called the " Ashley Bar- 
ony," and had been purchased by Mr. Wragg 
many years before the date of this letter. 

Many thanks my dear Becky for your obliging 
favour of yf. 16'- August. I waited its arrival 
23G 



DOMESTIC AND SOCIAL DETAILS 

with impatience, and it gave me sincere pleasure 
to hear you were well and safely arrived. I re- 
ceived a letter from my Brother a few days ago 
mentioning your being at Oxford, but he says he 
could not prevail with you to favour him with your 
company to take a colledge Commons. I wish it 
could have suited you to stay, for I am sure it would 
have made ye poor young man extremely happy. 

And so you really would not tell me who the 
Gentleman was that was left for you on your Journey 
to Oxford, pretending that he was an old beau and 
his name not worth mentioning, but tho' you were 
so sly we have found you out, and find it to be no 

other than the gay Colonel F and what a 

violent secret it is that Mr W has followed 

Miss Izard to England, and Cap*. G could not 

leave lier to come over with his vessel. Oh! my 
reserved friend if you don't treat me with more 
openness you shall be Prim, still ; and yet who can 
be more charmingly affable and open when she 
pleases than my much loved friend? 

Our friend, Sally Middleton, was married last 
w^eek at Port E,03^al Church to Mr Gherard; a 
very private wedding, nobody at it but Mr & 
Mrs A. Middleton. Her father so ill there is no 
hope of his recovery. I am sorry I cannot comply 
with my promise of sending some of her Bride- 
cake, for nobody in Town has seen any of it. She 
came to Town two days ago, but is not yet gone to 
her own house. 

237 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

Miss Wragg, who I suppose thought it better 
late than never, shook hands for Life last week 
with Jack Mathewes; they had a mighty jolly 
wedding of it up at jl Barony. They are all to he 
in Town to-day, Miss Judith extreamly happy 
with her new brother. 

We are much obliged for the smart man you 
have sent us, Mr Delance; he is thought hand- 
some here, and chose out Miss Golightly before he 
saw her for his flame! 

I have told you of all the weddings, now sigh 
with me my dear Miss Izard, for I can't suppress 

mine when I think of poor unhappy Mrs X 's 

fate. She died last month, 'tis said of a broken 
heart; how dearly has she paid for her imprudent 
choice, but she is at rest, may her indiscretions be 
buried with her and every foible be forgot. Slie 
left a daughter. Mama desires to be kindly re- 
membered to you, and joins with me in compli- 
ments to Mrs Drayton and to Mr & Mrs Blake. 
If you should see a youth called Charles Pinckney, 
let him know that he has a mother and sister in 
this part of the world to whom he is very dear, 
that would be glad to hear from him often. ... I 
am much obliged to you for the fan, 'tis very hand- 
some. Lord Charles Montagu has seen 3^our 
Picture. He likes it, and desires me to make his 
Compliments to the Original. 

I was ill when Cap*. Wallace sail'd, or I should 
have wrote to you by him, for I should have been 
238 



DOMESTIC AND SOCIAL DETAILS 

glad of ye earliest opportuuity of assureing you 
that I am 

Unalterably 

Your Affectionate 

Deer. 10».M7C6. ^' ^' 

The times were certainly changing. Never 
did Miss Lucas pen, even to her most intimate 
friend, such a gossipy letter, and never did 
she fail to sign herself " Your ob-^ humble Ser- 
vant.'* His visit to Charles Town was fatal to 
the Mr. Delancey mentioned above, for he was 
killed in a duel begun in a coffee-house brawl. 

Miss Pinckncy writes again to her friend at 
Santee : — 

^^The advancing Spring, especially the Mul- 
berry trees in full bud, remind me of my promise 
to dear Miss E,. to give her what information I 
could in regard to the raising of silk. I therefore 
send you my own Master, Pullien, who we follow 
as near as we can. 

'^I find Mr H. is the only opportunity I can 
rely upon to convey a line to you; have you at last 
got my travelling letter? I hear it went many a mile 
into the back settlements before it found its way 
to Santee. Mr H. told me at the Assembly he 
would call before he left town, but I really believe 
he is so Joked about me that it prevents his calling 
on us, least it should be thought that he had a 
serious attachment, and I am so much Joked that 
239 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

I believe I look so simple when he is in Company, 
that he thinks me half an Idiot. 

^' These are y^. reasons I did not ask him to take a 
ride and see our little silk work.'' 

Mr. Daniel Horry, the gentleman on whom 
Miss Pinckney's fancy thus rested, was of a 
Huguenot family which had been settled on the 
San tee River ever since the first emigration. 
That lower part of the river was known as 
" French Santee " from the number of Huguenots 
living on its banks. Mr. John Lawson, an 
English government surveyor, visited the settle- 
ment in 1700, and says : — 

" There are about seventy families seated on 
this river, who live as decently and happily as any 
planters in these southward parts of America, 
The French being a tem^jerate, industrious people, 
some of them bringing very little effects, yet by 
their endeavours and mutual assistance amongst 
themselves, (which is highly to be commended,) 
have outstripped our Englisli. . . . AVe got that 
night to Mons. Euger's [Huger] which stands 
about fifteen miles up the river, . . . and were very 
courteously received by him and his wife. . . . 
— After we had refreshed ourselves we parted from 
a very kind, loving, and affable people who wished 
us a safe and prosperous voyage." 

The planting of rice had made these worthy 
people rich, and this present Mr. Horry, who 
240 



DOMESTIC AND SOCIAL DETAILS 

was of the third generation in this country, 
was a very wealtliy man, owning many plan- 
tations along the river, and living at a beauti- 
ful one called Hampton, about forty miles 
from Charles Town. He was an only child, 
had been educated at home, and sent after- 
wards to England ; had made the Cherokee cam- 
paign, had married a Miss Serre, and had 
lost his wife and two children. He was now 
(in 1766) a childless widower ; his portrait 
shows a very good-looking, olive-complexioned 
man, with handsome mouth and chin ; and 
although he was older than his bride, there 
was no such discrepancy of years as there had 
been between her father and mother, he being 
then about thirty-five and she nineteen. 

The affair was soon arranged, and the Family 
Bible says : — 

^^ Daniel Horry was married to Miss Harriott 
Pinckney, daughter of the Hon'll^ Charles Pinckney, 
this 15*?) day of Pebnary 1768 by the Kev!! Mr 
Robert Smith, Rector for the Parish of S -Philip 
Cliarles Town, South Carolina." 

The tradition was that this was one of twelve 
weddings which took place in Charles Town 
that year, the grooms being all wealthy rice- 
planters. Furniture was then all imported 
from England, and the bedsteads brought out 
16 2il 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

for these bridals were lofty mahogany four- 
posters, with tester, canopy, curtains, and val- 
ance, complete. The posts, which might, from 
height and size, have been called pillars, were 
all carved with rice-stalks, with the heavy 
clustering ears forming the capitals. To climb 
into one of these beds one mounted a set of car- 
peted steps. Mrs. Horry's was still in existence 
thirty-five years ago. 

What Mrs. Pinckney felt on parting with 
her only daughter we can easily imagine. Tlic 
separation was a serious one, for forty-two miles 
of sandy road lay between Charles Town and 
Santee. There was, as the foregoing letters 
show, no mail, and the only means of communi- 
cation was wlien some obliging neighbor sent 
word that he or his servants were going to or 
from "town." Heavy freights went by "the 
boat," — the rice schooner, which might be a 
week or more on the way. A more isolated 
life could hardly be imagined, but it was cheered 
by the friendliness of tlie neighbors, and by the 
busy, useful occupations of the ladies, which 
have been already described. 

Mrs. Pinckney, however, did not mean her 
daughter to run any risks from rice-field fevers, 
such as were beginning to be dreaded, if she 
could help it ; and only a few weeks after the 
marriage she writes to her son-in-law, who, 
242 



DO^fESTIC AND SOCIAL DETAILS 

according- to planters' wont, could sec no danger 
from his own fields : — 

Believe me My dear Sir, though I long iin- 
patientl}' to see you and my dear Girl, I would 
not for my own self gratification, wish you to 
come down a day before it is agreeable to you 
and will suit your affairs, but I must own I am 
very desirous you should come down this year by 
the last day of June, when I shall expect to see 
you both. I don't know that there has been any 
particular person censuring, or making remarks 
on your staying in the country, but people in 
general think it wrong, and as both your neigh- 
bours leave it in June, from apprehensions of sick- 
ness, I know, (from what was formerly said,) you 
would be blamed; and prudence dictates to us to 
defeat malice and envy as much as we can, by 
giving them as little room as possible to display 
their malevolence. . . . 

I am glad your little Wife looks well to the 
ways of her household, I daresay she will not eat 
the bread of Idleness, while she is able to do 
otherwise. If she makes you happy I am content. 

The management of a Dairy is an amusement 
she lias been alwaj^s fond of, and 'tis a very useful 
one. I will answer for it, hers is perfectly neat. 
I find, as you sa}', she sends her instructions far 
and near, besides the affairs of Murphy's Island 
[a place at the mouth of the Santee River] she 
has people out gathering simples, different kinds 
243 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

of snake-root, and pink-root, and is distilling herbs 
and flowers. 

I wrote to you and Harriott by Harry, and 
hope your horses will get up safe, they set off 
yesterday morning. . . . 

Mrs Blake wrote to Harriott. The Doc*.V and 
Mrs Garden always desire to be remembered to 
you both 

The town is very Empty, very dull, and not a 

word of news stirring. My love to Harriott and I 

am with the greatest truth, my dear Sir 

Your most affectionate Mother 

/-<rs rr m 1 Eliza Pinckney. 

Kr.^ Town Thursday 

9l'> March 1768. 

From this time the correspondence between 
mother and daughter was constant, but the 
topics are generally of domestic interest only. 
Mr. Horry had a large house and garden in 
Broad Street on the site of the present Roman 
Catholic Cathedral; and Mrs. Pinckney be- 
guiled many lonely hours by directing the 
planting and preparation of this garden, until 
the sickly months should bring her dauglitcr 
back to her. Some parts of these letters might 
serve as a gardener's calendar ; and the way in 
which after returning from a visit to Hampton 
she arranges her household to suit the require- 
ments of one person only, is strange to modern 

notions. 

244 



DOMESTIC AND SOCIAL DETAILS 

**Marj-Aim understands roasting poultiy in the 
greatest perfection you ever saw, and old Ebba the 
fattening tliem to as great a nicety. Daphne 
makes me a loaf of very nice bread. You know I 
am no epicure, but I am pleased they can do things 
so well, when they are put to it, and as to the eat- 
ing part I don't think I shall miss Onia at all. I 
sliall keep young Ebba to do the drudgery part, 
fetch wood, and water, and scour, and learn as much 
as she is capable of Cooking and Washing. Mary- 
Ann Cooks, makes my bed, and makes my punch, 
Daphne works and makes the bread, old Ebba boils 
the cow's victuals, raises and fattens the poultry, 
Moses is imployed from breakfast until 12 o'clock 
without doors, after that in the house, '^^gg 
washes and milks. 

''Thus I have formed my household, nobody 
eats the bread of idleness when I am here, nor are 
any overworked, and I myself endeavour to make 
up the idle time I spend at Santee, where I am the 
only Idle person, where much industry goes on, and 
the Master and Mistress are remarkably so ! . . . 
I intend Daphne shall take her turn sometimes to 
cook tliat she may not forget what she learnt at 
Santee. Mary- Ann has pickled me some oysters very 
good, so I have sent you a little pott by the boat. 
Moses gets them at low water without a boat." 

Enough servants certainly for one old lady. 

A great happiness was now near at hand. 
The return home of her eldest son, Charles 

245 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

Cotesworth, who, having passed with credit 
through his Oxford course, with the Rev. Cyril 
Jackson, afterwards Dean of Christ Church, as 
his tutor, was now studying law at the Inner 
Temple, and hoped soon to be admitted to the 
bar. 

The following extract from a letter preserved 
in the Family Legend is worth reading, if but 
for one sentence, — the last. Happy are the 
mothers who can say so much ! She writes : 

"I am alarmed my dear child at tlie account of 
your being extremely thin, it is said owing to 
intense study, and I apprehend your constitution 
may be hurt; which affects me very much, con- 
scious as I am how much, and how often, I liave 
urged you from your childliood to a close appli- 
cation to your, studies 5 but how sliortsighted are 
poor mortals ! Should I by my over solicitude for 
your passing thro' life with every advantage, be a 
means of injuring jowy constitution, and depriving 
you of that invaluable blessing, health, how shall 
I answer to myself, the hurting a child so truly 
dear to me, and deservedly so 5 who has lived to 
near twenty-three years of age without once offend- 
ing me.'' 

The young man had overstudied himself, 
but a visit of some months to the continent 
restored him. He returned to the Temple, was 
admitted to the bar, rode one circuit for the 

246 



DOMESTIC AND SOCIAL DETAILS 

sake of seeing tlie English practice, and re- 
turned home in 17G9. His mother desired him 
to choose a good ship, but not to let her know- 
when he was to sail, as the anxiety would be 
too much for her. 

Doubtless tlie poor lady looked forward to 
years of tranquil enjoyment in the society of 
her precious boys (for the other was to return 
soon also) ; but, although they did not know it, 
the Revolution storm was already muttering in 
the distance, and agitation was beginning. The 
Stamp Act had been passed four years before, 
and the young Americans then in England had 
shared in the indignation which it had excited in 
America. A likeness of C. C. Pinckney, painted 
just before his return home, as a present to his 
college friend. Sir Mathew Ridley, represents 
him in the act of declaiming vehemently 
ao-ainst the measure, and his brother's enthu- 
siasm was so great as to gain him the name of 
" The little Rebel " among his companions ; so 
little had sixteen years of absence effaced the 
love of country in these young Carolinians ! 

In the same year 1769 Mrs. Pinckney wel- 
comed her first grandchild, Daniel Horry, 
henceforth an important person in the family ; 
and so the " eventful seventies " opened 
happily, none dreaming what they were to 
bring forth. 

247 



XIII 

BEGINNING OF THE REVOLUTION 

1773-1780 

Nothing can be farther from the wish of the 
present writer than to attempt even the slight- 
est sketch of the Revohitionary War. That 
tale has been told by abler pens than hers. 
But as for the next few years the Revolution 
was the life of the people of the country, it is 
impossible to keep clear of it. 

In Carolina it really took the people by sur- 
prise, and they were apparently very far from 
having any reason to desire it. The Colony was 
perfectly prosperous ; the Peace of Paris, con- 
cluded in 1763, had given that freedom and 
safety to commerce which was the only thing 
necessary to its welfare. Its rice and indigo 
paid magnificently, aided by the British 
" bounty ; " its staple commodities bought all 
it needed, and it bought chiefly from England. 
The agricultural daughter and commercial 
mother lived in mutual helpfulness. 

This for practical, business reasoning. 
There was, besides, a personal loyalty to the 

248 



BEGINNING OF THE REVOLUTION 

Crown, wliicli partly came from the comfort 
and protection which the Province had expe- 
rienced on the change from the proprietary to 
the royal government. 

There are, however, principles and rights 
and sense of wrongs, which stir men's hearts 
and break old bonds, even when the pocket is 
untouched, and the attachment strong. The 
small tax imposed by the Stamp Act, or the 
imposts on glass, tea, etc., were really trifling, 
and the colonists had borne heavy burdens 
with only a few groans. But unhappily the 
logic was good. " If they can impose two- 
pence, why not ten pounds ? If ten pounds, why 
not ten thousand? " and Mr. Locke, whose works 
were studied by men and women, had declared 
suggestively that " no man has a right to that 
which another has the right to take from 
him." 

The principle was clear, but the cause was 
but a small one to go to war about. The Car- 
olinians sent the stamps back to England, and 
publicly, in broad daylight, threw the tea into 
the Cooper River in 1774. They also, to show 
their sympathy for Boston, then threatened 
with the Port Bill, sent money and provisions 
to the amount of X 3,150. But although they 
cursed the Ministry, and wished that his Gra- 
cious ^Majesty could be better advised, they 
249 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

little thought that in less than two years they 
would cut themselves loose from the old 
country. 

At this time there were in England many 
young men sent there for education. It was 
no pleasure-trip of a rich man's son to see the 
world, but real hard work which these youths 
undertook. It might have been supposed that 
these years of absence would have weakened 
their attachment to their own country, but it 
was not so. They were learning not only law 
and logic, but English life and liberty, and 
seeing the happiness of a people living in its 
own house with no man to make it afraid. 

Freedom in England liad " broadened slowly 
down," but, learned by men of her own blood, 
in her own ancient schools, it was to spread 
widely but swiftly when given to the larger air 
of the great young continent. 

It has already been said that the Pinckneys 
sympathized in the indignation provoked by 
the first arbitrary measures. Charles Cotes- 
worth was now at home, ready for any call 
from his country ; but his first thoughts were 
not of war, but love, and in 1773, Mrs. Pinck- 
ney had the happiness of seeing him married 
to Sarali, daughter of the Hon. Henry Middle- 
ton, — a descendant of one of the first royal 
governors of the Province, who was himself to 
250 



BEGINNING OF THE REVOLUTION 

be president of the first Continental Congress, 
while his son, Arthur Middleton, was to sign 
the Declaration of Independence. 

The marriage gave great pleasure to Mrs. 
Pinckney. Her intimacy with the family dated 
from her early days on Asliley River; and lier 
sons, while in England, had received constant 
kindness and attention from Mr. Middleton's 
eldest brother and his wife, who had returned 
from Carolina, and lived at a beautiful place 
called "Crowfield" in Suffoll^. 

The young couple settled themselves in the 
house on the Bay, which had so long been occu- 
pied by successive governors, and their mother 
makes constant mention of visits from " your 
brother and Sally " in her letters to her 
daughter. She had also the delight of seeing 
her youngest child, Tom, the darling of her 
heart, who came out for a short time, and then 
returned to finish his law course. 

The threatening aspect of affairs had had 
much effect, however, upon this young man. 
He spent some time at the Military Academy 
of Caen in Normandy, studying the art of war, 
and in a letter published in Johnson's Tradi- 
tions of the Revolution, which is addressed to 
the son of his old companion-in-arms, Major 
James Ladson, he says of Mr. Ladson and 

himself : — 

251 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

*^We were together scholars at Eeda's fencing 
academy, and at tlie riding school of Angelo, at which 
he was distinguished for vigor and activity. At 
this period American politics occupied much of the 
public mind in London, and the young Americans 
attended a meeting of their countrymen convened 
by Dr. Franklin, Mr Arthur Lee, Mr Ralph Izard, 
etc for the purpose of framing petitions to the 
Legislature and the King, deprecating the acts of 
Parliament, then passing, to coerce our country. 
. . . But the petitions not having the desired 
effect, and foreseeing that an appeal must probably 
be made to arms, we endeavoured to qualify our- 
selves for the event and hired a sergeant of the 
royal guards to drill us at your Father's lodgings. 
From him we obtained the knowledge in military 
service we could derive from a person of his 
rank." 

Mrs. Pinckney, in writing to her daughter, 
says of the above-mentioned petition, " It was 
signed by twenty-nine Americans, fifteen of 
whom were Carolinians." Notwithstanding 
her knowledge of these affairs, there is no note 
of danger in the following tender, peaceful 
letter, written at this time to her daughter : 

^^That I love my children above all sublunary 
beings (myself not excepted) is most certain! 
Have I not given you a sufficient proof of it ray 
252 



BEGINNING OF THE REVOLUTION 

dear Harriott in refusing to take my sweet child 
with me, tho' you and ]Mr Horry were so good to 
offer him to me? I applaud your self denial and 
esteem myself your debtor, though I was disinter- 
ested enough to forego the pleasure ; I wonder at 
my own resolution after the dear little creature's 
reply to somebody that asked him, if he was going 
to Belmont? 'that he would chuse to go but that 
Grandmama would not have him! ' 

*'Tell my dear baby I have him in my heart 
and would always have him in my sight if I could, 
consistently with what is right. . . . 

''Your sister [Mrs. C. C. Pinckney] did not go 
out of town till Monda}'^, and your brother set out 
on the Circuit on Wednesday'', he with Mr Rut- 
ledge dined at the quarter house and were to lie at 
Mr Middleton's at Goose-creek that night. 

"Mr. Horry has sent me a little Cargo! I 
have just got it up ; indeed my Children you are all 
very kind, and determined I shall live well, you, 
(in which I include Mr Horry) send me a quantity 
of eatables, and your good brother, of drinkables, 
Porter and Liquors, and would have forced more 
wine upon me than I have room for. I know you 
have Pine-apple Cheese, (for you would have had 
me take part,) or I would send you one he sent 
me. When shall I use it ? . . . 

"We have not been separated quite a fortnight 
yet and I long to see you already. How does good 
Mrs Motte do, and the rest of your good neigh- 
bours? Praj^ pay my Comptf. to them." 
253 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

The " dear buby " was often left to comfort 
his grandmother. This chatty letter from a 
friend does not look as if danger was im- 
pending : — 

I am sorry my dear Madam that you should 
think any apology necessary to me and am con- 
cern 'd to think you have been unwell, with all 
your Comforts (except Dan.l) away from you ! 
I should certainly have called upon you but 
have been prevented these three days past by 
company. . . . 

I hope for yJ". excuse for keeping Pullien, [a 
treatise on silk culture] so long, and am much 
obliged for the loan of him, as also for the kind 
invitation you have given the girls to visit your 
silk manufacture, which they shall certainly do, 
as soon as possible, as well as myself, as the reel- 
ing off the silk puzzles me more than the rest. 

I hope you will not hurry j^ourself with tlie 
books you have ; your time shall be ours. I have 
returned you ''The Earl of Salisbury" as y- ser- 
vant told me you had not yet finish'd it. When 
you are inclin'd for a very high diversion I will 
send you the '' Female Quixote," which, tho' not 
quite so well wrote as the Don of that name, will 
afford 3^ou a good deal of entertainment from the 
absurdities she commits. When you have read it 
I shall be oblig'd for your opinion, whether it is 
not a very proper Book for young Folks, to shew 
them the consiquence of being too fond of those 
254 



BEGINNING OF THE REVOLUTION 

books which all girls would rather read than things 
of more consequence. 

I think I have trespassed too long already 
upon yr. patience, therefore heging your excuse 
assure you Dr. Madam of my very great esteem. 

Eliza Huger. 

Amid this apparent tranquillity things grew 
steadily worse. The Continental Congress at 
Philadelphia, in 1774, and the Provincial Con- 
gress of South Carolina, in 1775, recognized 
the full gravity of the situation, although 
almost every man still hoped for a peaceful 
solution of the difficulties. This Continental 
Congress decreed that after the first day of 
February, 1775, no British goods should be 
imported, — a measure naturally very trouble- 
some to those who had shopping on hand and 
country commissions to perform. 

to Mrs Horry 

Jones sent me word that the stores had been 
searched and he could not get a bit of fine washing 
Pavillion gauze [mosquito net] any where. I after- 
wards sent old Mary, with directions not to miss 
a store, and to let them know it was Cash. 
After two or three days search she got me some 
coarse stuff for \\^^ I payed ready money. ... A 
Providence vessel is just arrived, w*:^ gives me an 
opportunity to beg y.": acceptance of a little Turtle 
in fine order, and some very fine limes. Ye 
255 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

Bananas and Oranges are bad, or I should not for- 
get my Boy. . . - 

I send nine pieces of paper and border for j^our 
room, I wish you may like it, there is none in 
town like the pattern you sent, Blott [an uphol- 
sterer] says; he will take whatever is left again, 
I send what I think prettiest, there is very little 
choice in town. ... I send a little barrel of Irish 
patatoes (Hartford's English patatoes I mean) and 
16 Cake knots for my dear Boy, to whom remem- 
ber me tenderly. . . . Mrs Prioleau t'is thought 
will dye of a pleurisy — 

Mrs. Prioleau, wife of Samuel Prioleau, the 
grandson of the first Huguenot pastor of Caro- 
lina, died a few days afterwards, and her 
funeral is still remembered as the occasion of 
the first visible sign of resistance. The Con- 
gress had decreed that no mourning should be 
worn until the obnoxious acts were rej^ealed, 
except a black band or bow on the arm, as 
mourning goods must all be imported. 

When one remembers what affairs of solemn 
state funerals were then ; how the kinsfolk 
came from far and near to attend them, and all 
walked in strict order of proximity swathed in 
black from top to toe, — " weepers " of crape 
hanging from the hat of every man, hoods 
shrouding the head of every woman ; how the 
gay liveries were exchanged for black ones, 

256 



BEGINNING OF THE REVOLUTION 

and tbo women servants (all of whom fol- 
lowed in the procession) were happy in black 
gowns, — one comprehends what an innovation 
this was, and how deep the resolve that in- 
s[)ired it. Mrs. Prioleau and an old Mr. Lamboll 
died about tlie same time, and were followed to 
the grave by their weeping families clad in 
many-colored garments. Mrs. Prioleau's chil- 
dren determined that as they had not worn 
mourning for their mother, they would never 
wear it for any other person, and rigidly ad- 
hered to the resolution. Her son was one 
of the citizens sent to St. Augustine after the 
fall of Charles Town, and bore his sufferings 
and losses with the fortitude becoming his name 
and race. 

Mrs. Pinckney now had her second son with 
her once more, and wrote happily to her daugh- 
ter after returning with him and Lady Mary 
Middleton from a short visit to Santee. The 
letter shows the manner of travelling in those 
days ; " Harry " was Mr. Horry's servant, sent 
back with the horses which had brought them 
to town. " The Ferry " was that over Cooper 
River, a little farther up than the steamboat 
ferry is now ; it was then crossed by passengers, 
in a row-boat. If horses and carriages were to be 
taken over, a cumbrous affair — a hulk worked 
by a wheel, turned by a horse, which walked 

17 257 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

round and round, and called " a horse-boat " — - 
was brought into requisition. The present 
writer remembers such a one well. '^ The 
Ferry " is over two miles of stormy water, and 
the crossing no joke. 

Charlestown Feb.y 1775 
Harry has no doubt informed my dear Child 
that we had a very pleasant journey to the Ferry. 
We dined under the Oaks at the Meeting House, 
upon your very fine Tongue and Turkey, we found 
some new Shingles for platters, and cups of white 
paper, contrived by Tomm, for glasses; if this was 
not a fete-champetre it was at least a pretty rural 
meal. 

The wind rose so much towards Evening, I 
debated with mj^self whether I should return as 
far as Snee [a place about fifteen miles from the 
Ferry, belonging to Mrs. Pinckney's nephew, 
Charles Pinckney] and proceed next morning, 
as Lady Mary and y- brother left the matter to 
me, but at length we crossed the river in a stout 
boat with seven hands to navigate her, in a high 
wind and rough sea, & was very anxious till we 
were half way over. Had the boat overset Lady 
Mary and I would have drag*^. poor Tomm down 
with us ; but I thank God, we at last got over safe, 
to the great joy of ourselves and our fellowpassen- 
gers (3 gentlemen from the ISTorthward). We went 
to your brother's [C. C. Pinckney's East Bay house] 
and found him expecting us. . . . Pray give 
258 



BEGINNING OF THE REVOLUTION 

our compliments to ISIr Horry, and thank him 
for the horses and all favours, they performed 
extremely well. ... I could not match jl carpet- 
ing. We had a little levy of Gen* and Ladies 
to-day. 

Later in the same month she writes : — 

I am just come from Church where I heard 
from jV[r Smith a very good, patriotic Xtian like 
sermon, attended to by the audience with great 
seriousness, there was a prayer suited to the occa- 
sion. The Assembly came in a body, with the 
Speaker at their head and the mace carried before 
him. . . . 

Lady Mary and I were invited to meet a few 
friends at Mr Fenwicke's next Tuesday, yours and 
the young folks cards are for a ball, many are in- 
vited. . . . Your brother Tomm is sworn in to 
this Court. Were he to Consult what became him 
he should wear no other dress but the Barr gownd 
— , it becomes him better than any thing he ever 
wore, he expects to open his mouth in Court 
tomorrow. 

Feb.T 17^?> — 

He " opened his mouth " accordingly, and 
we can fancy his mother's anxiety, while she 
sits writing to keep herself quiet, until some 
friend shall come to tell how he has acquitted 
himself. 

269 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

Feb? 18t> 1775. 

I this moment rec» my dear Child's letter, 
and happy to hear you are all well — , am much 
obliged for the Turkey's, fowls and eggs — I hope 
you have not robd y^'self, as Sally sent me some 
since I came down, but my obligation is the 
same. ... I send your two little panboxes with 
y- suit of Point [lace]. It must be in Taste, 
for it has not been two months from France; There 
are two caps to it, the lappited head I think very 
handsome, I always liked it beyond all other caps. 
Your brother Tomm desires to be remembered to 
Mr Horry and begs his acceptance of a shaving 
box, it is square and I am obliged to sew it up in 
cloth, for it won't lie in the little portmanteau. I 
shall send *'The Inflexible Captive" to amuse you 
and Miss Trapier if I can get it — . . . Your 
brother has just been here — , he stept in from Court 
to let me know Tomm has spoke for the first time 
they have gain'd the cause and (I forget the Client's 
name) presented Tomm with a couple of Joes as 
soon as he had done. I have seen nobody yet to 
know how he spoke but his brother, and he, you 
know is very partial to him. . . . 

Was Mr Horry to see this, he would think I 
had nothing to do, but he is mistaken, I have been 
in a continual hurry since in town, j^esterday 
(Sunday) excepted; but I am expecting Tomm 
every minuet from Court to eat his dinner, and 
can't sett about anything else. . . . 

Tomm is come in from Court he don't seem 



BEGINNING OF THE REVOLUTION 

at all satisfied with himself; says he was confused. 
IVFr Ned Rutledge [C. C. Pinckiiey's brother-in-law, 
and partner at the bar, was one of the Signers of 
the Declaration of Independence] called in the 
evening; he is very friendly to Tomm, he wish'd 
me joy, I thanH- him but told him I was sorry T. 
seemed so dissatisfied with himself; he said, ''he 
had no cause, he thought his being dash., was in 
his favour the first time of speaking as it was 
owing to his modesty, and the argument was all his 
own. What he found fault with in himself would 
wear off in one Circuit. '^ . . . Y- Cousin Pinck- 
ney. [Mrs Charles Pinckney] has just been in. 
She has been speaking of yF. brother Tomm, says 
her husband was extremely pleased to hear him, 
said he acquitted himself extraordinary well, with 
great calmness and good sence — , not at all con- 
fused or fluttered, but that nothing pleased him 
more than the modesty of his countenance and 
deportment. 

'Tis near two o'clock. I must conclude. 

We must pardon this loving mother if, to 
her, " Tomm's " appearance in court was more 
momentous than the solemn day of fasting 
and prayer for guidance in their ways, which 
she mentions above. It had been appointed 
by the Congress of the Province in all serious- 
ness and faith. Not lightly or unadvisedly did 
the men of Carolina turn from the old patlis 
and set themselves to the untrodden ways. 

261 



ELTZA PINCKNEY 

This day is described by one of the chief among 
them, General Moultrie, in his Memoirs, 
thus : — 

''Every place of worship in Charleston was 
crowded with the inhabitants; and Congress went 
in a body to S* Phillip's from the State House, 
agreeably to their resolve and most of them in their 
military array. On their entering the Church, the 
organ began a solemn piece of music, and con- 
tinued playing until they were seated. It was an 
affecting scene as every one knew the occasion, and 
all joined in fervent prayer to the Lord to support 
and defend us in our great struggle in the cause 
of Liberty and our Country. The Eev? Dl Smith, 
at the request of the Provincial Congress, delivered 
an excellent and suitable discourse on the occasion, 
v/hich very much animated the men; Avhilst the 
female part of the congregation, were affected in 
quite a different manner; floods of tears rolled 
down their cheeks, from the sad reflection of their 
nearest and dearest friends and relations entering 
into a dreadful civil war, the worst of wars, and 
what was most to be lamented, it could not be 
avoided." 

Moultrie was clear-sighted ; the women, as 
was natural, hoped still, although in the very 
next letter the ominous words, " the blank 
commissions have come," must have suggested 
the thought that the " becoming Barr gownd '* 
262 



BEGINNING OF THE REVOLUTION 

must soon 1)0 exchanged for a coat of a livelier 
color. 

Only a few days later Mrs. Pinckney writes : 

^' A packet came in on Sunday night, it rained 
all day yesterday and I did not know it to inform 
you by Sam. Poor Lady Charles Montagu [their 
friend of happier days] is dead, She died at Exe- 
ter. I can't tell you much Publick news, but what 
I have heard is as follows, That yf. American af- 
fairs at home wear a more favourable aspect. The 
King has promised to receive the petition, Jamaica 
has petitioned, the rest of the Islands are about to 
do it, as well as the London Merchants, The Trades- 
people clamour extremelj^; Mr Fox is not so violent 
as he used to be against us. Capt. Turner is also 
arrived and says there is a prospect of the acts 
being rejDeaH., 

''Pray God grant it may prove true ! " 

And so, they hoped and prayed, would the 
heart of the King be softened ! It was not 
until April that intercepted letters to the gov- 
ernors of the different provinces showed that 
the most oppressive counsels prevailed in Lon- 
don ; and then the news of the battle of Lex- 
ington roused a more fiery spirit, and the men 
were called to arms. 

Tlie men in such times have the better part ; 
the women must sit at home and watch the 
weary day. The following letter to Mrs. Horry 

203 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

shows the feeling of the time. It is written in 
August, 1775, when already the tents were on 
the green, and is from a lady who, since Mrs. 
Horry's marriage, had become one of her dear- 
est friends, — Miss Trapier, afterwards Mrs. 
Martin. The daughter of Mr. Horry's grand- 
father, the emigrant Elias Horry, had mar- 
ried a Trapier ; the relationship and friendship 
between the families was close. She begins 
fancifully : — 

^^I don't know how it happens, but I seldom 
keep to my good resolutions. I determined yester- 
day to write to you my dear Cousin, & I can't find 
an excuse to myself but downright Idleness. ! 
this too loving Indolence which keeps me all to 
itself, whose bands tho' in appearance cobweb, are 
fetters strong as steel; leave me a little while, dear 
friend ! while I apologize to a friend still dearer, 
for the very short answer I must give to three 
favours received from her. ♦ 

'^Now I have apostrophised Giant Indolence let 
me thank you for y- letters, received by Mrs. Kin- 
loch's Dick. I immediately sent up a Memoran- 
dum of the articles you wanted, and hope you have 
been in time. ... I see by these preparations of 
tents etc, that our soldiers are making ready for 
the field. I hope there w^ll be little occasion for 
them. Heaven interests itself in favor of those 
who have Virtue to assert the birthright of man- 
kind. Divine Liberty ! and Britain surely will be 
2G4 



BEGINNING OF THE REVOLUTION 

shortly taught by our successes and continued una- 
nimity, in spite of all their base arts to disunite 
us, that America determines to be free, and that it 
is beyond their force of arms to enslave so vast a 
Continent. 

" What shall we think of those few base souls 
among us, who, leaving penury and want in their 
own country have lived luxuriously in our land, 
and raised themselves a name; who now spurn at 
their benefactors, and betray the place that has 
been their asylum. From the misrepresentation 
of such wretches, do we doubtless owe much of our 
present calamity. 

^'Tell Mr. Horry his friend Gr. threatened the 
Committee with an assault the other day, for which 
pretty performance the Mohility^ whom I fancy he 
depended on as Associates (for he declared he in- 
tended raising a posse, or I should have thought 
his own Herculean arm was to do the whole,) could 
they have caught him, intended him a genteel 
souse in the River or perhaps a fashionable suit 
[of tar and feathers]. 

*'I hear Mrs Kinloch in the next room, and 
must therefore finish as quick as possible, she 
comes for my assistance in laying out a quilt, — 
you know the excellence of my taste! but no ex- 
cuse is sufficient. . . . 

*'My best respects and Compliments to your 

jNIama and Brother Tom, does his soldier's dress 

become him as well as his lawyer's gown. Adieu 

my dear Cousin, I can't say another word but my 

2G5 



ELIZA PTNCKNEY 

wishes for all the satisfaction the present times will 
permit. Yours most affectionately, 

[signature torn off] — 
I honour Mrs Motto's patriotism.'' 

This letter was written from the neighbor- 
hood of Georgetown, S. C, a port which was still 
open. These hopes w^e kiiow^ failed. Surely 
never since the days of Pharaoh had God so 
hardened the heart of a king to drive a reluc- 
tant and enduring peoi>le to their own good ! 

Botli the Pinckneys received ca])tains' com- 
missions in the First Regiment of South Caro- 
lina troops, with Christopher Gadsden, who 
had served in the Cherokee campaign under 
Grant, as their colonel ; and in June, 1775, the 
brothers left home to go into camp on James 
Island at Fort Johnson, — the fort built by Sir 
Nathaniel Johnson, in the time of Lc F(3boure's 
invasion. 

All that summer two British sloops-of-war, 
the Tamar and the Cherokee, lay in " Rebellion 
Roads*' off Sullivan's Island, and threatened to 
bombard the town, which lay at the mercy of 
their guns. At last, on November 9, William 
Henry Pray ton. President of the Provincial 
Congress, gave the order, — ''To the American 
ofiicer conunanding at Fort Johnson, by every 
military operation to endeavour to oppose the 

200 



BEGINNING OF THE REVOLUTION 

passage of any Britisli naval armament that 
might attempt to pass." 

No wonder the people were alarmed ; the 
town was practically still defenceless, and could 
easily have been destroyed. Mrs. Horry writes 
to Miss Trapier at Georgetown : — 

'^At about this Season of the year I used to 
flatter myself with the pleasure of seeing my dear 
Cousin, and enjoying that free & unreserved con- 
versation so pleasing to the social mind. . . . But 
alas! How distant is the prospect of this felicity 
now! how uncertain 'tis when we sliall meet 
again! My Mother Daniel and myself intend to 
go to a little Plantation House at Ashepoo in 
search of safety, when we can stay no longer here; 
but think with what reluctance I must leave the 
place of my nativity, this poor unhappy Town, 
devoted to the Flames, when I leave in it my 
Husband, Brothers, and every known male relation 
I have, (infants excepted,) exposed to every danger 
that can befall it; were their lives but safe I think 
I could bear with some degree of Fortitude, the 
Evils of Indigence that stare us in the face, how- 
ever hard to human Nature, and to human Pride. 

"Mr Trapier will inform you of affairs here, 
and of the Mortifying truth of the number of 
disaffected in our Province to ye. American cause. 
I really believe tho' the Gaiety and levity re- 
ported of our Sex in Town is ver}' unjust. I liave 
seen very little of tlie first, and nothing of the 
207 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

last for many months, indeed I think rather an 
universal dejection appears at present, the heavy 
Cloud that hangs over us ready to burst upon our 
heads calls for all our Fortitude to meet the Awful 
Event with that decency and resignation becoming 
Xtians; the Scandalous conduct of many among us, 
leaves us not much to hope, a most humiliating 
Circumstance to all true lovers of their Country. 
Almost all the Women, and many hundred Men 
have left Town. In a few days I imagine we shall 
hardly have a female acquaintance to speak to. . . . 
I must again trouble you for a few articles not to 
be had in Charles Town [a list chiefly of medi- 
cines] Pray keep these things by you till you can 
meet with an opportunity to send them by Land, 
as we have already suffer*?, by Water in having our 
Boat seized by y?. Man of Warr, in coming from 
Georgetown, All our Compliments etc etc . . . My 
Brother is at y.^ Fort. Tom at present recruiting. 
Mr Horry goes to yf. Fort next Friday to stay a 
month. 

'' Adieu my dear Cousin, be assured of the most 
sincere attachment etc — 

^'28^^ Nov 5. 1775." 

Happily these fears were not realized. The 
British delayed their threatened attack ; some 
hastily erected fortifications threw a few shells 
at the Tamar and the Cherokee, and they with- 
drew from the Roads. 

Armed resistance was thus begun. Only 
268 



BE GIN XING OF TUB REVOLUTION 

those who have known a like pang can know 
how keen is the pain inflicted by such sad 
necessity, — the rending of ties of country, the 
division of families ! 

This was most felt in the upper class, which 
had the closest connection with England. Miss 
Izard, for instance, a letter to whom has been 
given, was now the wife of Colonel Campbell of 
the British army. Her sister was the wife of 
Lord William Campbell, Governor of the Prov- 
ince. Her brother became General Izard in 
the American service ; while Lord William, 
who had been joyously received in Charles 
Town only a few months before, was forced to 
take refuge on a man-of-war, and fell, serving 
gallantly as a volunteer in the attack on Fort 
Moultrie in June, 1776. 

Mr. Henry Middleton and his son were, as 
has been said, ardent patriots. The head of 
their family was a country gentleman in Suffolk. 
Mrs. Pinckney's father and brother had been 
officers in his Majesty's army, — and so it 
went. Women suffer cruelly in such cases of 
divided allegiance, when love and duty beckon 
on either hand. No word of murmur or pro- 
test, however, escapes the remarkable woman 
whose life is here portrayed. She prayed for 
peace while peace was possible ; then for a 
speedy end to the war ; then for reconciliation 

269 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

and forgiveness of injuries. But she never set 
herself against her sons, or against that sen- 
tence in her husband's will which had enjoined 
each of them to devote " all his future abilities 
in the service of God and his Country, and in 
the cause of virtuous liberty." 

Her granddaughter, when asked what part 
Mrs. Pinckney had taken, and how she had in- 
fluenced her children, said that she "had prayed 
to God to guide them aright, but that she had 
given no advice and attempted no influence ; 
for that having done her best while they were 
boys to make them wise and good men, she now 
thankfully acknowledged that they surpassed 
her in wisdom as in stature." 

Long before the close of the war, she found 
her reward for this early forbearance. Her 
sympathies centred themselves in the cause 
for which her sons were flghting, and their 
country became entirely her own. 

The military history of the two Pinckneys 
has lately been written in the Life of General 
Thomas Pinckney, and forms no part of this 
work. They were forced to look on from across 
the Bay, most unwilling spectators, at the bat- 
tle of Fort Moultrie in 1776. The letters from 
Thomas Pinckney to his mother and sister give 
a vivid picture of the scene. In the compara- 
tively quiet time which followed that battle in 

270 



BEGINNING OF THE REVOLUTION 

Carolina, Charles Cotesworth went on to Gen- 
eral Washington, and had the honor of serving 
as his aide in the campaign of '77. The 
friendship then formed, continued all their 
lives, without shadow of turning, Washington 
never losing any opportunity of evincing his 
trust and confidence in the ardent Carolinian. 

During this period things went on quietly 
enough in the South, — the ladies leading their 
accustomed lives, and the men " riding the cir- 
cuit" and planting their crops, though always 
ready to resume their arms. In 1778, however, 
trouble arose from Florida. Florida had been 
acquired by Great Britain from Spain only a 
few years before, and she now used it as a point 
of vantage whence to harass Georgia and Caro- 
lina. Mrs. Pinckney says : — 

^^The Georgia deputies are come, and that is all 
I know about them; you know I don't love to be 
inquisitive and therefore I did not ask any of y- 
committee folks, and those that did not belong to 
it knew nothing of the matter as they were shut 
out. . . . Y" Brothers intend to set out for the 
Southward this week. . . . The Deputies above 
mentioned I find are not, from y?. Province of 
Georgia, but from S.*. Johns in Georgia." 

General Howe was to command this expedi- 
tion ; Charles Cotesworth, now Colonel, was 
271 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

under him ; and Thomas congratulates himself 
in after years on the recollection that " being 
a Major I was on horseback." Mrs. Pinckney 
had a lively horror of Florida campaigns, re- 
membering well the sufferings of those of her 
youth. Sickness too now broke out, a sort of 
putrid fever appearing, especially among the 
negroes, and embarrassing operations. Drouth 
too threatened, and the summer of 1778 opened 
anxiously. 

The Georgia expedition failed much as 
General Oglethorpe's Augustine expedition had 
done years before. The climate was too much 
for the men, and the enemy, by simply " falling 
back," wrought as much havoc as pitched bat- 
tles could have done. Thomas Pinckney wrote 
that " before we reached Fort Tonyn which the 
British abandoned at our approach half of our 
troops were in their graves or in the hospitals." 
Mrs. Pinckney was thankful to receive her sons 
alive and free from the sickness which carried 
off many of their comrades. She says : " A 
soldier's life seems to agree with your brother, 
he generally looks better for undergoing 
fatigue." "Gen^. Lincoln is arrived. My ac- 
count came in for altering my brocade. XGO 
including sewing silk, which alone is <£5." 

General Lincoln had come to resist the 
British, who had gained possession of Georgia 

272 



BEGINNING OF TUE REVOLUTION 

and even of Savannah. Mrs. Ilony writes in 
great alarm from Santee. At such a distanco 
from town, rumor of course ran riot, and any- 
thing might be believed. 

^'I liave been so uneasy at not hearing a word 
from my dear iNfama to inform me of the reason of 
her delay that I am determined to wait no longer, 
and tho' it is almost against the rule of this house 
to send to Town, I shall dispatch Ned immediately 
in hopes of being at a certainty; for tho' I have 
seen none of the neighbours, except the Col^? Family, 
[her husband's uncle, Colonel E. Horry] since Tues- 
day week, I have heard various reports ; the last of 
which was that all the first regiment were gone to 
Georgia! I had heard before that* there were 
an hundred sail of Vessels within the Bar, then 
that there were but forty, and that those had never 
been within forty leagues of it, and that the fleet 
had gone to Georgia, where also Generals Lincoln 
and Moultrie were gone, etc etc. and tho' there 
has been several opportunities from the camp at 
See wee, [" Seewee," a part of Bull's Bay to the north 
of Charleston] I have not had a line to inform 
me of any thing that was going forward. 

''I am now here entirely alone, not so much as 
the little weaver or Snyder here. [Snyder was 
the German overseer.] Part of the Colonel's 
Family have been with me since Xmas day till 
the last night, but Miss Roberts had business at 
home, and as yesterday was so fine a day, she, as 
18 273 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

well as I, thought we should certainly see you. I 
should have been extreamly glad if April could 
have been sent up to put me a little out of the sus- 
pence I have been in for very near a week past. 
Ben Huger went to Georgetown some daj^s ago, 
which made me immagine that the apprehension of 
the Enemy's coming here, could not be so great as 
to prevent my hearing from you, and therefore 
thought that you or my Brothers must be very ill 
I hope to hear by Ned that the last is not the case, 
and beg he may come up tomorrow. 

''Dec.': 30'.M778.'^ 

These were for the time false alarms, but the 
loneliness must have been enough to excuse 
any amount of credulity. A young woman 
with one little boy and a baby (there was a 
little Harriott Pinckney Horry now) alone on 
a plantation with no white man, " not even the 
little w^eaver or Snyder," and listening to all 
the tales which the negroes gather and spread 
with amazing rapidity, must needs be appre- 
hensive. And yet the women had to stay, the 
men all being in camp, or else the whole plan- 
tation machinery must stop. 

In the midst of all this, Thomas Pinckney 
married Miss Elizabeth Motte. This also was 
a marriage which pleased his mother greatly. 
The Mottes had long been near and dear 
friends. The Chief Justice had been carried to 

274 



BEGINNING OF THE REVOLUTION 

their house at Mount Pleasant for change of air, 
in his last ilhicss, and had died there. They 
were among Mrs. Horry's nearest and best neigh- 
bors at Santee, and Mi's. Pinckncy liad a higli 
opinion of them. From the beginning of the 
Revolution the Mottes had been among the 
patriots, but the most conspicuous proof of 
Mrs. Motte's devotion to the cause of American 
liberty was yet to come. It did not seem an 
auspicious moment for a marriage, for within a 
few months, Provost, marching from Savannah 
to besiege Charles Town, laid waste the whole 
country between the two cities. The planta- 
tion on the Asliepoo belonging to Thomas 
Pinckney (now Major), whicli had, as has 
been said, been chosen as the safest place at 
which to store the family valuables, lay 
directly in his way ; it was plundered and 
burned to the ground. The following letters 
sliow the temper with which tlie mother and 
son bore their losses. 

Hampton, as remote from the danger, shel- 
tered many ladies flying from the enemy, but 
Belmont also suffered. We have not Major 
Pinckney 's first letter. His mother wrote : 

Hampton, Saxtee, May 1779. 
My Dear Tomm, — I have just received your 
letter with tlie account of my losses, and your 
almost ruined fortunes by the enemy. A severe 

275 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

blow! but I feel not for myself, but for you; 'tis 
for your losses my greatly beloved child that I 
grieve; the loss of fortune could affect me little, 
but that it will deprive my dear Children of my 
assistance when they may stand most in need of it. 
. . . Your Brother's timely generous offer, to 
divide what little remains to him among us, is 
worthy of liim. I am greatly affected, but not 
surprised at his Liberality. 

I know his disinterestedness, his sensibility 
and affection. You say, I must be sensible you 
can't agree to this offer; indeed my dear Tomm I 
am very sensible of it, nor can I take a penny from 
his young helpless family. Independence is all I 
want and a little will make us that. Don't grieve 
for me my child as I asure you I do not for my- 
self. While I have such children dare I think my 
lot hard? God forbid! I pray the Almighty dis- 
poser of events to preserve them and my grand- 
children to me, and for all the rest I hope I shall 
be able to say not only contentedly but cheerfully, 
God's Sacred will be done! 

On the same day the Major wrote to his 
mother : — 

Camp at Parker's Ferry May 17'.^. 
HoN^ Madam, — A North Carolina soldier was 
five days sick at my house at Ashepoo, and was 
there when the enemy came. He reports that they 
took with them nineteen Kegroes, among whom 
were Betty, Prince, Chance, and all the hardy 
27G 



BEGINNING OF THE REVOLUTION 

Boys — They left the sick women, and the young 
children, and about five fellows who are now per- 
fectly free and live on the best produce of the plan- 
tation. They took with them all the best Horses 
they could find, burnt the dwelling House and 
books, destroyed all the furniture, china, etc, killed 
the sheep and poultry and drank the liquors. 

The Overseer concealed himself in the swamp 
and afterwards returned. I hope he will be able 
to keep the remaining property in some order, tho' 
the Negroes pay no attention to his orders. As 
however our Light Horse has scoured that Country, 
and we still have some small parties out I am 
hopeful all will not be lost. This account I 
thought might be satisfactory, and therefore snatch 
the moment of the Express setting out to transmit 
it to you. 

My feelings on account of your situation at 
Santee, have been afflicting, for altho' you were 
out of immediate danger, I can easily conceive 
your anxiety for Charles Town, when in danger of 
being taken. Our present situation promises 
better times. Adieu my dearest Mother, remember 
me tenderly to Harriott and all Friends, and 
believe me your most dutiful 

And affectionate Son 

Thomas Pixckxey. 

To her son Mrs. Pinckney wrote again : — 

To Major Pinckney. 

Harriott will write to you now if possible. 
She is happy in being able to assist her friends at 
277 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

this time. She sent for Sally and the children 
upon the first appearance of Danger, and we were 
hapj^y when we got them with us. Mrs Middle- 
ton, Lady Mary, Mrs Edward Rutledge, Mrs 
Charles Drayton, Mrs Ealph Izard and Mrs 
Mathewes are now here with all their little ones. 
Mrs D. Huger, Mrs W. H. Drayton and children 
with Miss Elliott and Miss Hyrne left us this 
morning to go to Peedce. [All these were 
ladies, most of them connections, whose homes lay 
in Provost's track, and were thus refugees at 
Hampton.] 

Backlow [the overseer] wrote me he would 
keep the boat to bring the women and children 
from Ashe]300 as soon as there was any danger. . . . 

I sent Prince the ta^dour to order the Belmont 
people to cross Scott's Ferry and come to me at 
Santee, and I hear Mr Horry [Colonel First Regi- 
ment South Carolina dragoons] did the same, but 
they are not come. The enemy was at Belmont and 
distroyed every thing in the house, but took none of 
the negroes. Those at Beech Hill were thought safe 
and ordered to stay where they were. Quaco came to 
Goose Creek to Sally to know whether they should 
remove. ... I wish you or 3'our Brother were 
near enough to direct what should be done, but I 
dispair of jl being able to do any thing, and as the 
Enemy are retreating to Ashley River, I think they 
are out of the way of being taken at present unless 
they choose to go to them, and in that case I fear 
we should not be able to prevent it. 
278 



BEGINNING OF THE REVOLUTION 

It must not be supposed that the negroes 
were carried off by the British to be set free. 
They ^vere, on the contrary, generally sent to 
the Vest Indies, and sold there by their cap- 
tors. Ramsay says that twenty-live thousand 
were carried oft during the war ; eight hun- 
dred were said to have been sold by one English 
engineer officer. Colonel Moncrieff, alone. 

Only two days after his letter was written, 
on the 20th of June, Major Pinckney had the 
satisfaction of aiding in the defeat of Provost 
(who had withdrawn from before Charles 
Town), at the battle of Stono, after which Pro- 
vost retreated to Savannah. Both brothers 
and their brother-in-law took part in the siege 
of Savannah, by Lincoln and the Count d'Es- 
taing, — Major Pinckney serving as aide to 
the coimt, who had sent a boat ashore when 
off Charles Town, requesting to have an aide 
sent him " who was fluent in French." 

All also served in the defence of Charles 
Town when it was besieged by Sir Henry Clin- 
ton in 1780, Colonel C. C. Pinckney being in 
command of Fort Moultrie. Clinton, however, 
attacked " by the back door," as it was said, 
landing to the south and making his approaches 
by land. Washington afterwards declared that 
no defence should have been made, it being im- 
possible to hold the place with the means at 
tlieir command; and the general commanding, 

279 



ELTZii PIN CK NET 

Lincoln, despaired \Gvy soon. Moultrie, Lau- 
rens, Gadsden, and Pinckney, however, who 
were fighting for their homes, hoped and fought 
on. Perhaps they did not hope for success, but 
for a nobler aim ; for Pinckney, opposing Lin- 
coln's desire to surrender, said : — 

'^ I will not say, if the enemy attempt to carry 
onr lines by storm that we shall be able to resist 
them successfully; but I am convinced that we 
shall so cripjile the army before us, that although 
we may not live to enjoy the benefits ourselves, 
yet to the United States they will be incalculably 
great. Considerations of self are out of the ques- 
tion; they cannot influence any member of this 
councih My voice is for rejecting all terms of 
capitulation and for continuing hostilities to the 
last extremity." 

The gallant John Laurens supported this 
proposition, but it was not adopted. Still, 
they held out for a month, while the shells 
reached every part of the town, and shot down 
the women and children in the streets. When 
at last they piled their arms, the British, Moul- 
trie says, " asked where the second division 
was. They were astonished [to see so few] 
and said we had made a gallant defence." 

So fell Charles Town, and so began the dark- 
est day of Carolina's history, — in the eigh- 
teenth century. 



280 



XIY 
END OF THE REVOLUTION 

1781-1782 

Before Charles Town capitulated, General 
Lincoln had prevailed upon Governor Rutledge 
and some of his council to leave the town, in 
order that the State might not be surrendered 
in the person or by the signature of her gover- 
nor, and that civil government might be carried 
on. With Governor Rutledge went Major 
Pinckney and some other officers, who thus 
escaped the captivity of their comrades. 

By the articles of capitulation the officers 
were to be exchanged, as is usual in war ; and 
the citizens, under a general parole, were to be 
unmolested in their homes and property. But 
in a very short time, and especially after Lord 
Cornwallis succeeded Sir Henry Clinton in 
command, these articles were totally disre- 
garded, and all sorts of humiliations and 
wrongs were heaped upon the inhabitants. 

Many of the officers, and among them Colonel 
C. C. Pinckney, were confined at" Snee Farm," 
a few miles from Charles Town in Christ 
281 



ELTZA PINCKNEY 

Churcli parish ; there is a letter written thence 
by Colonel Pinckney with the words, ^' I hear 
that my wife and children have been turned 
out of my house ! Be pleased to tell me now 
the meaning of this Manoeuvre." 

" The exigencies of the service " answered 
every remonstrance, and were found to apply 
particularly to the handsomest and most con- 
venient houses. There are innumerable stories 
of these evictions. One lady, whose sister was 
dying upstairs, refused to illuminate according 
to order, and found herself on her doorstep 
witli her infant in her arms. Others, for some 
sharp speech or angry words (natural enough, 
poor souls), had soldiers quartered in their 
best rooms, while they were sent to the garrets. 
Two sisters who remonstrated against some 
order were thrown into the dungeon under the 
old Post-office, with the worst felons of the 
town. It was no worse treatment than is met 
with in other wars ; but these people had dwelt 
in peace for many years, and the cruelties were 
inflicted by men who but a short time before 
had been their friends and countrymen, — and 
it was hard. 

Worse still were the overtures of friendship. 
Ladies were literally " bidden " to balls. If 
their refusal was too marked or persistent, in- 
genious ways of retaliation were found. Policy 



EXD OF THE nEVOLUTION 

compelled a certain (very carefully guarded) 
acceptance of civilities. 

These sufferers were tlie " true Patriots." 
Then there vrere open British sympathizers, 
who for various reasons liad remained in this 
country. Of them there was little to be said. 
Their side had won, and they had a right to 
rejoice. But there were also those weak souls 
who loved amusement, and could not resist a 
" pretty fellow," whether he wore a blue coat 
or a red one. The contemptuous scorn for 
these feeble folk lasted while they lived. One 
old lady who must have been near a hundred 
when she died (a very respectable woman), 
used to be pointed out to the young people : 

" We don't think much of Miss X Y , 

my dear. Quite too fond of the British 
officers : " 

In the country in the meanwhile the women 
had still worse times. The British set up the 
claim that as the capitulation of Charles Town 
had been signed by General Gadsden, Lieuten- 
ant-Governor of the State, the whole State had 
been included in the surrender, and that any 
man still in arms might be treated as a rebel 
and a traitor. 

This pretence they used to justify their " dom- 
iciliary visits," — descents on the houses and 
plantations, in order to seize and arrest any of 
283 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

these rebels and traitors who might have ven- 
tured home to see his wife and children ; also 
to carry off any convenient goods and chattels 
that might belong to him. 

Two of these visits were made to Hampton, 
but I cannot give the dates ; they were about 
this time. Of the first story General Marion, 
the ^' Swamp-Fox," was the hero. Mrs. Horry 
was alone with her children at the time, for 
the women stayed courageously at home, en- 
couraged to do so by Marion, who advised them 
to "take protection, make provisions, keep up 
communications, and send information to the 
men in camp ;" in other words, to make them- 
selves spies, — which they patriotically did. 

The tradition is that late one evening, her 
children being asleep, Mrs. Horry heard the 
sound of horse-hoofs, and then a man's voice 
begging admission at the door. It was Marion, 
who, having made an unsuccessful attack on the 
British near Georgetown, was now in turn pur- 
sued by them. His men had gone on to where 
a bridge crossed the Wambaw Creek a few miles 
off, in order to make their way to the Santee 
swamp, which was their stronghold. Marion, 
worn out and exhausted, had come to ask a 
supper and a lodging, and would follow them 
in the morning. Supper was prepared as 
rapidly as might be, but while it was cooking 
284 



END OF THE REVOLUTION 

the weary man sank into a sleep in his chair. 
Suddenly came the tramp of horses, the clang 
of steel scabbards : the British were upon 
them ! 

Mrs. Horry waked the general, took him to 
the back door, pointed down the long garden- 
walk to the creek at its foot, and told him to 
swim to the island opposite, and lie there in the 
rushes until the English left, — she would meet 
the enemy! "He was off like a wild duck," 
as Mrs. Horry's daughter always said in telling 
the story, and like a duck swam the stream and 
lay hid in the reeds until daylight came, when 
he made his way up the river to rejoin his 
men. 

The lady in the meanwhile opened the front 
door (carefully closing those behind her), and 
met Tarleton face to face. Search was made, 
Mrs. Horry not only offering no remonstrance, 
but prolonging it by every means in her power. 
The tracks of the main troop had in the mean- 
while been found, and the soldiers hurried off, 
taking horses, etc., but not stopping to plunder 
much. Colonel Tarleton ate the supper pre- 
pared for Marion, " requesting" Mrs. Horry to 
act as hostess, and carried off himself (perhaps 
in order to prove the polish to which he pre- 
tended) a fine volume of Milton, of a beautiful 
Baskerville edition, bound in crimson and gold. 

285 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

The second volume, and the chair in which 
Marion slept, are kept as relics of the story. 

The other visitation was more serious in its 
results. It was the earliest recollection of 
Mrs. Pinckney's granddaughter, the little Har- 
riott Pinckney Horry (who was afterwards to 
marry Governor Rutledgc's son), then between 
four and five years old. She said that there were 
many people in the house, — her father, who 
had come home from camp, her uncle. Major 
Pinckney, and his wife, and others. She her- 
self was slcephig in a little cot at the foot of 
her grandmother's bed (Mrs. Pinckney's), when 
she was awaked by a loud noise and screams. 
The door flew open, and a beautiful girl rushed 
into the room, crying, '' Oh, Mrs. Pinckney, save 
me, save me ! The British are coming after 
me." The old lady stepped from the bed (one 
can fancy her majestic in bed-gown and ker- 
chief !), and, pushing the gii"l under her own 
bed-clothes, said, " Lie there and no man will 
dare to trouble you ; " and " such was the power 
of her presence, my dear, that those ruffians 
shrank abashed before her and offered no further 
insult." The young girl was the sister of Mrs. 
Pinckney's daughter-in-law, the beautiful Mary 
Motte, afterwards Mrs. William Alston. Her 
portrait, which hangs in the old Miles Brewton 
house, still remains. 

286 



END OF THE REVOLUTION 

This surprise was effected by a strong party 
of the enemy, led by Major Fraser, one of the 
most hated of the Tories, who had received in- 
telligence of the presence of the two gentlemen. 

Major Pinckney made his escape ; Colonel 
Horry was seized, and made to take the parole, 
to the no small distress of his family. This 
time the place was thoroughly plundered, but 
neither house nor outbuildings were burned, 
which was esteemed a jnercy. It is curious to 
see how quietly the people bore it all. Mrs. 
Horry, w^riting to her dear friend, Mrs. Blake, 
soon afterwards, says : " We liave lately been 
well plundered by the Enemy. They took your 
miniature, w -' 1 always wore on my neck, and 
my repeating watch." That is the only men- 
tion of this exciting event. 

This must have been soon after the fall of 
Charles Town, while Major Pinckney was on 
his way to Camden and thence northward to 
join General Washington. His wife went to 
her mother's, at a place called St. Joseph's, on 
the Congaree River, a])out eighty miles from 
Charles Town ; his mother and her other daugh- 
ter-in-law returned to town, endeavoring to 
protect their property there and in that neigh- 
borhood. The whole country was in the hands 
of the British, and it mattered little where they 
stayed. There are but few letters for these sad 
287 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

months ; probably there were no means of com- 
munication ; the enemy patrolled the roads and 
intercepted all men and horses except such as 
carried the oilticial " permit," and even those 
might, it was carefully stated, be '^ pressed if 
the exigencies of the service required." The 
forlornness of the time — I know no more ap- 
propriate expression — is shown in the follow- 
ing letters, the only ones for tliis summer; the 
first is from Mrs. Pinckney to Mrs. T. Pinck- 
ney at St. Joseph's : — 

I am much obliged to you my dear Betsey for 
your favour by John ; it gave us great concern to 
hear of the frights and hardships you underwent 
in 3^our journey and tlie continuance of them since 
you have been up. The disappointment in the loss 
of your boat, [tlie boat carrying supplies from the 
Santee to the Congaree place,] must have rendered 
your situation most uncomfortable. But alas this 
is a time of suffering w*:!" we must all severely 
feel, till the Almighty Power w''3.' governs Events 
relieves lis. My heart bleeds at the separation 
from my dearly beloved Son, . . . but heavy as 
my own distresses are I feel yours in a great de- 
gree, and write this chieflj^ to beg you will exert 
your utmost efforts to keep up your spirits, and 
imitate joux husband's fortitude. . . . Harriott 
desires me to assure you of her affectionate re- 
gards and joyns with me in love and every friendly 
288 



END OF THE REVOLUTION 

wish to Mrs Motte and all her family ; she has 
been lately in town upon business, and consulted 
D" Garden upon innoculation, and sends Mrs 
jMotte a copy of his directions, but I hope you will 
be able to keep out of the way of the small pox 
. . . We shall be anxious to hear from you, but 
if 'tis inconvenient to you to write, use no cere- 
mony with me, but beg the favour of Mrs Motte 
or any of the ladies with you to write me a line to 
say how you do. Be assured that I am dear Betsey. 
Your most affectionate Mother 

Eliza Pinckney 
P. S. 

Since the foregoing I received a letter from 
my dearest Tom from Camden. 

Tlie daughter-in-law answers just a month 
later : — 

MouxT Joseph July 1780 

Honoured Madam, — I return you many 
thanks for your favour by Sampson. It gave me 
pleasure to hear that you with Mrs Horry and all 
friends at Santee were well. I wish we could say 
the same, but the fevers have attacked our children 
and negroes earh^, Three of Aunt Dart's and 
Mary [her sister] have for this ten days past been 
very sick with fever, and we all expect to have it 
soon. I sincerely simpathize with you in the 
separation from our Dear and greatly beloved 
friend [her husband] which has lately left us, 
19 289 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

God only knows when to meet again. However 
I do all in my power to keep up my spirits and 
hope for the best, as I hope something may y&t 
turn up for us, such as to enable him to return with 
Honour and satisfaction to himself and Friends. 

I have not yet heard from him since he left 
Camden, but hope ere now he is safe with Gen. I 
Washington, as it was his Intention to join him as 
soon as possible. 

I am much obliged to you for your good 
wishes relative to the small-pox — It w411 be 
almost impossible for our family to escape as it is 
on every plantation within 15 Miles around us. A 
Doctor from the Northward innoculates up here 
with great success, upward of a Thousand Blacks 
and Whites, and not one died amongst the num- 
ber. Mamma joyns me in affectionate love to Mrs. 
Horry, is sorr}^ to inform her that some person 
has stole one of her mares altho' she did every thing 
in her power to save them. The other Three with 
one Horse she sends down by Sampson. 

They are in very bad order, as the Army has 
taken all our provisions & it was not in our power 
to feed them. She is afraid if she does not send 
them away the rest may be taken, as They are con- 
tinually calling to enquire for horses. Papa has 
been gone down a month to-day and we have never 
heard from him but once, he is on John's Island, 
but we hope he may be able soon to return to his 
family as we one and all long and wish to see 
him. .-. . 

290 



END OF THE REVOLUTION 

The spirits of the people rose when in 
August they heard that General Gates, " the 
conqueror of Saratoga," was coming with a 
large army to their assistance. Especially did 
tlie two Mrs. Pinckneys rejoice at hearing that 
the beloved son and husband, serving as Gates's 
aide-de-camp, was coming with him. 

The joy soon turned to mourning, however, 
when the disastrous defeat of the battle of 
Camden left the whole country at the mercy of 
Cornwallis. In this battle Major Pinckney's 
leg was shattered by a musket-ball, and he 
was made prisoner. Fortunately for him his 
old schoolfellow. Captain Charles Barrington 
McKenzie, wdiom he had befriended at the bat- 
tle of Stono, was present now, and so inter- 
ested the English surgeons in his behalf that 
the leg, which had been condemned to amputa- 
tion, was saved ; and even Tarlcton, who is 
generally the demon of the piece in Revolu- 
tionary stories in Carolina, showed him much 
kindness. 

He had been taken in, almost dead from loss 
of blood, by a kind lady, Mrs. Clay, who lived 
near the battlefield. His mother writes in 
great dismay : — 

Charles Town, Aug. 1780. 

After a thousand fears and apprehensions for my 
dear, my greatly beloved child I am at length 
291 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

made acquainted this day by your letter to your 
brother of the 20th. of your leg being shattered and 
you yourself a Prisoner. Gracious God, support 
me in this hour of distress ! You can more easily 
conceive my feelings on this occasion than I ex- 
press them, alas my child, 'tis saying little at my 
age to tell you how readilj^ I would part with life 
could that save your limb, but how little can 
I do for you. I am not allowed even to give you 
that attendance and pay jow those tender atten- 
tions that might in some measure alleviate your 
distress. . . . 

Major Mony to whose humanity and politeness 
we are already much indebted will be so good as to 
convey this to you with ten guineas. I send some 
necessaries by his waggon also. 

Your brother is at Snee, he was well when I 
last heard from him, he has lately had a son, a fine 
child named Charles Cotesworth. I long to see 
your dear babe. 

The baby born at so inopportune a moment 
made it impossible for its mother to go to her 
husband, and for some time he remained under 
Mrs. Clay's care. Mrs. Pinckney wrote : — 

^' I never heard my dear child that you were 
without your servant till Capt M. came to Town, 
I hope poor John is safe and well. Moses was 
then at Santee or he would have been with you 
before, he promises to behave well and I hope 
will be useful. Your letter of the 23d gave me 
292 



END OF THE REVOLUTION 

much pleasure. I have since seen one from Dr 
Hayes' to Dr Garden in which he says : — ' Major 
Pinckney is as well as we can expect though the 
cure will be tedious, that both bones of the left 
log are broke and splintered.' Alas, my child 
what must you suffer! . . . Your sister's letter 
and mine designed to go by Capt King but left 
behind, were sent yesterday to Capt McMahon, 
which we beg the favor he w^ould forward by the 
first opportunity. I hope you will have received 
the boxes sent you before this reaches you." 

The boxes did not arrive, and the poor mother 
is anxious lest he should suffer for the w^ant of 
them. She says : — 

^'I saw^ Capt McMahon last week, he told me 
he thought 3'ou must by that time have received 
the first box I sent; but the two last were gone 
but tw^o days before. I beg you will make yourself 
easy with regard to any little matters I send you; 
'tis not at all inconvenient to me, therefore don't 
imagine it will distress me, but let me know if 
there is anything in particular that will be agree- 
able to you and I will send it. . . . I wish you 
out of so sickly a place as Camden, yet I fear much 
your removing too soon. Heaven direct you. — 

''Pray pay our respectful Compliments to Major 

Mony and Capt ]\[acKenzie. ... I shall inquire 

of Capt M. next time I see him what w^aggon your 

box went by if I don't hear from you before of its 

being received." 

293 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

How small the power of sending comfort 
was, is seen in this extract from a letter to her 
daughter-in-law, in which, after congratulation 
upon the birth of her child, she says of her 
son : — 

''Our anxiet}^ however, has been greatly abated 
by lieariiig frequently since of his being in a good 
wa}^ ... I sent him a couple of suits of his linnen 
by a waggon, I now send you what remains by 
Sam, though the shirts are old, they may be of 
Service to liim in his illness, there are two shirts, 
three stocks, three pair of stockings and two hand- 
kerchiefs. I heard from Snee lately, the Gen'l. 
and Mrs Moultrie are well. [Mrs. Moultrie had 
been a Miss Motte, Mrs. Tom Pinckney's aunt.] 
My poor son has had another attack of the fever, 
but is something better. . . . 

'' You no doubt are acquainted with the great 
attention and tenderness shown my son at Camden, 
hyall the British officers that he has seen, and the 
Gentlemen of the Faculty, as well as the maternal 
kindness of Mrs. Clay.'' 

The careful enumeration of these few half- 
worn things shows how the pinch of poverty 
began to be felt. These were not the days in 
which she could write : '-' Mr Horry has sent 
me a little cargo." Writing from a place on 
Goosecreck called " Harriott's Villa," Colonel 
Horry says, about this time : " I send you a 
294 



END OF THE REVOLUTION 

small shoat which I hope will be acceptable 
and prove good ; a few eggs and potatoes 
sent some time ago, I hope you have re- 
ceived." For such small supplies they were 
now thankful. 

At last the surgeons consented to Major 
Pinckney's removal, and Lord Cornwallis gave 
the permit. A courageous lady, Mrs. Brewton, 
his wife's cousin, went over to Camden for him. 
The horror of the journey in an open spring- 
less cart, his head resting on this lady's knees, 
the jolting and suffering, as they made their 
way across the two great swamps of the 
Wateree and Congaree, to Mrs. Motto's place 
on the latter river, has often been described to 
the writer. On his arrival, so far from being 
"in a good way," the leg was found in a shock- 
ing condition, and was with great difficulty 
kept from mortification. His wife exerted her- 
self so much in her care of him as to bring on 
a violent illness, in which at one time she was 
supposed to be dead. His mother wrote, before 
hearing of this : — 

^*How much, my dearest child, must you have 
suffered. I have been flattered with your having 
everything comfortable, and your own manner of 
writing, led me into the same mistake ; which 
made me the less lament the non-arrival of the 
things I sent. Capt M. is surprised they are not 
295 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

yet received, as lie thinks they must be safe, he 
was so good to direct them to the care of Major 
Mony, how they have missed you I can't imagine 
but greatly regret. I re Joyce at your being able to 
be removed to Mrs Motte's.'' 

So the hardly gathei'ed comforts were ap- 
parently intercepted. 

The tender mercies of the wicked are cruel ; 
and the kindness of the British officers on 
which Mrs. Pinckney dwells with such simple 
gratitude was by no means " pure unasking 
kindness." It was at this time their policy to 
try by every means in their power to induce the 
most prominent among the American officers 
to abandon their cause and enlist in his 
Majesty's service. They pointed out that tliey 
were prisoners, and might always remain so ; 
that their country was subjugated, etc., and 
made liberal offers of pardon and favor from 
the King. 

Tlie former governor. Lord Charles Montagu, 
who had been on friendly terms with many 
of them, exerted himself particularly in 
this way. The admirable letter in which Gen- 
eral Moultrie replied to his offers is well known. 
Similar advances were made both to Major 
Pinckney and to Colonel C. C. Pinckney, who 
had been, ever since the fall of Charles Town, 
eating his heart out in confinement at Snee. 

29G 



END OF THE REVOLUTION 

The Family Legend preserves for us a few of 
the answei's of the hitter to such overtures. 
He wrote to Major Mony, mentioned before as 
assisting his brotlier : — 

^'I entered into this cause after reflection and 
through principle ; my heart is altogether Ameri- 
can, and neither severity, nor favour, nor poverty, 
nor affluence can ever induce me to swerve from it." 

To Captain McMahon, another British officer, 
lie says : — 

^'The freedom and independence of my Country 
are the Gods of my Idolatry. I mean to rejoin 
the American Army as soon after my exchange as 
I possibly can, I will exert my abilities to the 
utmost in the cause I am engaged in, and to obtain 
success, will attempt every measure that is not 
cruel or dishonourable." 

His friend and brother-in-law, Edward Rut- 
ledge, wrote asking what he would do if set 
at liberty ; he answered : — 

" You, My dear Ned, may be assured that T will 
not do any tiling, however I may be oppressed at 
which my friends may blush. If I had a vein that 
did not beat witli love for my country, I myself 
would open it. If I had a drop of blood that could 
flow dishonourably, I myself would let it out. 
AVhenever asked the question you mention, I will 
297 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

give it sucli an answer as is becoming an American 
officer, a man of honour, and a devotee to the free- 
dom and independence of his Country. '^ 

In the following January, Major Pinckney 
was sent down to Charles I'own, still travel- 
lino: in a wao'on, and not able to bear more than 
twelve miles a day. After some time he was 
sent with liis brother and other officers to the 
American headquarters at Philadelphia; but 
months more elapsed before they were ex- 
changed, and assigned to duty with Washing- 
ton's army, where they participated in the 
closing scenes of the war, — Yorktown, etc. 

At this time, after the battle of Camden, the 
seaboard of Carolina was completely in the 
power of the British ; but in the great swamps 
Marion and his men still lurked, darting out 
to strike a blow whenever opportunity offered ; 
and in the upper districts, Sumter, Washington, 
Hampton, Pickens, and other bold riders were 
gathering strength. Governor Rutledge, inde- 
fatigable in raising money and supplies, went 
from point to point near the North Carolina 
border, organizing and encouraging the parti- 
sans ; and Congress sent General Greene to 
take the chief command. With him came 
Harry Lee of Virginia and his legion of light- 
horse. It was in the May following Major 
Pinckney's departure that Mrs. Motte with her 

298 



END OF THE REVOLUTION 

two unmarried danghtcrs and Mrs. Thomas 
Pinckncj, wlio remained with her, were re- 
moved by order of the British colonel, McPher- 
son, from her own house, a large new one, 
to an outbuilding, some distance off. The 
English occupied the large house as a sort of 
fort, having surrounded it by a high stockade, 
and keeping regular guard. It thus formed 
one of a semi-circle of fortified posts, extending 
from Charles Town to Augusta, and its name of 
'* St. Joseph's " was changed to " Fort Motte." 
The ladies, whose little dwelling was with- 
out the stockade, all being ardently patriotic, 
managed to keep up communication with 
Marion and Lee, who were hovering near. At 
last Colonel Lee reluctantly informed Mrs. 
Motte that the good of the cause required the 
destruction of her fine new house, as there 
was no way of dislodging the British but by 
burning it to the ground. Instead of remon- 
strating or lamenting, Mrs. Motte instantly 
agreed to the sacrifice, and said that she would 
herself provide the means of setting it on fire. 
She produced from '' the top of an old ward- 
robe " a quiver of East Indian arrows, which, 
when they struck, burst into flame. Tliey had 
been given, many years before, by the captain of 
an East Indiaman, to her brother. Miles Brew- 
ton, and had on his death come into her pos- 
299 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

session. She explained their use to Colonel Lee, 
who, sending his sharp-shooters into the tall 
trees about, made them fire the arrows from 
their rifles to the shingle roof. The flames 
burst out, and the English soldiers flew to ex- 
tinguish them ; but the riflemen picked off 
every man as he appeared, and in a few mo- 
ments the white flag of surrender was hung 
out. Then both parties joined in extinguishing 
the flames, and the body of the house was 
saved. More singular is it that the oflicers of 
both parties dined together that evening with 
Mrs. Motte, who received all with equal cour- 
tesy. Marion, Lee, and John Eager Howard 
were present. 

The manuscript from which this account is 
taken is by the eldest grandson of Mrs. Motte, 
C. C. Pincknoy, Esq. His cousin, Mrs. Rut- 
ledge (Mrs. Horry's daughter), adds some 
details, and concludes : — 

^'Mrs Motte always used the case which bad held 
the arrows as a knitting needle case. [Tlie long 
wooden needles on which the ladies of that day 
used to knit the wool from their own flocks, which 
they or their maids had spun.] I have played 
with it many a time by her side while she talked 
with my mother and uncle, General Thomas Pinck- 
ney, about the times of British oppression in this 
country." 

800 



END OF rUE REVOLUTION 

The present writer remembers the case well ; 
it was a long bamboo quiver, with figures in 
dark brown, carved upon the lighter brown 
beneath. 

The sufferings of the people, and especially 
of the soldiers, at this time were severe. The 
men at Valley Forge suffered more because 
of the colder climate ; but of hunger, nakedness, 
and want of every sort the accounts of the 
contemporary historians, Ramsay and Moultrie, 
tell a dreadful tale. The following letter, 
written by Mrs. Pinckney from her compara- 
tively sheltered position in Charles Town, 
shows how little the guarantees of protection 
to property given at the surrender of the town 
had been observed. It is to an English friend, 
who had returned home, worn out by six years 
of war : — 

^^ I am sorry I am under a necessity to send this 
unaccompanied with the amount of my account due 
to you. It may seem strange that a single woman, 
accused of no crime, who had a fortune to live Gen- 
teelly in any part of the world, that fortune too in 
different kinds of propert^^, and in four or five dif- 
ferent parts of the countrj'^, should in so short a 
time be so entirely deprived of it as not to be able 
to pay a debt under sixt}^ pound sterling, but such 
is my singular case. After the many losses I have 
met with, for the last three or four desolating years 
301 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

from fire and plunder, both in Country and Town, 
I still had something to subsist upon, but alas the 
hand of power has deprived me of the greatest part 
of that, and accident of the rest. Permit me to 
particularize in part, or you may possibly think me 
mistaken in what I have now asserted, as a strange 
concurrence of circumstances must happen before a 
person situated as I was, should become thus desti- 
tute of tlie means of paying a small debt. 

*' The labor of the slaves I had working at my 
son Charles' sequestrated Estate by Mr Crudens 
permission, [Mr. Cruden appears to have been in 
possession of Col. Pinckney's Estate, as he also 
occupied his house in town] has not produced one 
farthing since the fall of Charles Town. Between 
thirty and forty head of tame cattle, which I had 
on tlie same plantation, with the same permission, 
was taken last November by Major Yarborough 
and his party for tlie use of the army, for which I 
received nothing. 

*'My house in Ellory Street, which Capt IMc- 
Mahon put me in possession of soon after I came 
to Town, and which I immediately rented at one 
hundred per annum sterling, was in a short time 
after filled with Hessians, to the great detriment of 
tlie house and annoyance of the tenant, who would 
pay me no more for tlie time he was in it, than 
twelve guineas. I applied to a Board of Field 
Officers wdiich was appointed to regulate those 
matters, they gave it as their opinion that I ought 
to be paid for the time it had been, and the time it 
302 



END OF THE REVOLUTION 

should be, in the Service of Government, which it 
is to tliis day. I applied as directed for payment, 
but received nothing. Even a little hovel, which 
I built to please one of my negroes and which in 
the late great demand for houses would have been 
of service to me, was taken from me, and all my 
endeavors to get it again proved fruitless. 

"My plantation up the path, [namely, the old 
Indian path, the precursor of the present State 
Koad, leading up the country] which I hired to 
Mr Simpson for fifty guineas the last year, and 
had agreed with him for eighty guineas for the 
present year, was taken out of his possession and I 
am told Major Fraiser now has it for the use of 
the Cavalry, and Mr Simpson does not seem in- 
clined to pay me for the last half year of the j^ear 
1781. To my regret and to the great prejudice 
of the place, the wood has also been all cut down 
for the use of the Garrison, for which I have not 
got a penny. The negroes I had in town are 
sometimes impressed on the public works and make 
the fear of being so a pretence for doing nothing. 
Two men and two women bring me small wages 
but part of that I was robbed of before it reached 
me. 

"I have a right to a third of the rent of two 
good houses in Town, each of which I could have 
rented at three hundred pounds per annum ster- 
ling, but the government allows but a hundred and 
fifty pounds sterling for each, so that about two 
hundred pounds which I received at different 
303 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

times in the course of last j^ear, from Mr Cruden 
or by his order, is all the money I have been pos- 
sessed of except very trifling sums for two j^ears 
past. 

^'Forgive good sir, this tedious recital and pre- 
sent my affectionate Compliments to Mrs G. 'Tis 
long since I saw my son Charles, and have no pros- 
pect of seeing him soon, but am very certain he 
would do every thing in his power to serve her. 

*^ . . . Since the above I have seen an adver- 
tisement in a Charles Town paper which gives me 
some hopes of getting something for my wood; Mr 
Johnston, before I left Charles Town was so good 
to offer to do me any service in his power, I am 
sure he has not been wanting in applying for it. 
I write to him at this time to put the first money 
of mine which he has in his hands in discharge of 
your account, should he not have received any I 
must, though reluctantly^, beg your patience till 
I can raise as much." 

This was in May, 1782 ; but " the day is 
darkest before the dawn," and slowly but 
surely the Americans were gaining ground, 
pushing the British back to the immediate 
vicinity of Charles Town. By August of the 
same year the people knew that deliverance had 
come, and that their oppressors were to go. In 
December, the British took to their ships and 
evacuated the town ; and the " Ragged Con- 
tinentals " marched proudly in. 
30-1 



END OF THE REVOLUTION 

The writer has often heard her grandmother 
tell how she stood, a little girl clinging to her 
mother's hand, to see the greeting, — the joy, 
the tears, the shouts, the sobs, as that war-worn 
band came down the streets. Perhaps the 
people at first hardly recognized all that came 
with it. Peace, — but peace with how many 
changes ! The country, still torn and bleeding, 
was free. It was no longer a Province, but the 
State of South Carolina. The North American 
Colonies were the United States ; and, the long 
struggle ended, the men who had fought to pull 
down, had now to build up, and to rear from 
the fragments of the old system the new edifice 
which was to amaze the world. 



20 305 



XV 

OLD AGE AND DEATH 

1783-1793 

Henceforth we have but few letters of Mrs. 
Pinckney's. Age w^as approaching, and her 
chief interests were near at hand. Fortunes 
were destroyed or impaired ; and with the 
courage and hopefulness which are the best 
heritage of Carolinians, all, men and w^omen 
alike, set themselves to the task of renewing 
their fallen State. 

Colonel Horry died of country fever not long 
after the close of the war, and from that time 
forth Mrs. Pinckney shared her daughter's 
home. Colonel Horry had previously taken his 
only son, Daniel (the " dear babe " of thirteen 
years before), to England for his education. 
The boy was said to have " extraordinary 
quick parts," but to be idle and wilful. The 
country was still too troubled for quiet study, 
and his grandmother was anxious that he 
sliould tread in tlie footsteps of her own sons. 
Most of the remaining letters are to him. 

306 



OLD AGE AND DEATH 

Colonel Charles Coteswortli Pinckney lost 
his wife (Miss Middleton) about tliis time, 
and brought his three daughters to share his 
mother's and sister's care. The rest of Mrs. 
Pinckney's life was chiefly devoted to the 
training of these children, and of Mrs. Horry's 
only daughter, Harriott. The four grew up 
under her immediate influence ; they lived to 
within the memory of the existing generation ; 
and it is from their conversation that the pres- 
ent writer (grand-daughter and great-niece) has 
gathered the traditions here told. Mrs. Pinck- 
ney's sons were busily occupied with their own 
and with public affairs. Colonel C. C. Pinck- 
ney, as a member of the Constitutional Con- 
vention, helped to frame the Constitution of the 
United States, which his brother signed as 
Governor of his State. The letters to her 
grandson sliow touchingly their mother's per- 
fect happiness in these beloved children, — 
that greatest happiness which age can know, 
a virtuous pride in virtuous sons. 

She writes to the boy, urging a close atten- 
tion to his studies, and exclaims, " An idle man 
is a burthen to society and to himself, how ab- 
surdly connected are the words — ' an illiterate 
gentleman.' " She continues : — 

''Witli the most resigned acquiescence in the 
Divine Will, I submit to the loss of Fortune, 
307 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

when I see my dear children, after being exposed 
to a variet}^ of suffering, danger and Death, alive 
and well around me. And when I contemplate 
with what philosophick firmness and calmness they 
both of them supported pain, sickness and evils 
of various sorts, and withstood the utmost efforts 
of the ennemies' malice, and see with wdiat great- 
ness of mind they now generousl}^ conduct them- 
selves to all; my heart overflows with gratitude 
to their great Preserver for continuing to me such 
children. Be assured, my dear Daniel, no pleas- 
ure can equal that which a mother feels when she 
knows her children have acted their part well 
through life, and when she sees them happy in 
the consciousness of having done so. May the 
Almighty in his infinite goodness and condescen- 
cion accept my prayer when I earnestly entreat 
that your dear and greatl}^ beloved mother may 
enjoy the same comfort in seeing you and your 
sister answer her most sanguine hopes : for though 
I hope your Country will never want your aid in 
a Millitary capacity you may be guided by the 
same principles of true honour and real virtue that 
have always actuated them, and though not called 
exactly to the same exertion, yowx conduct in 
publick and private life may Emulate the Example 
they have set you, and give your mother a comfort 
which nothing else can. . . . 

^' When I take a retrospective view of our past 
sufferings, so recent too, and compare them with 
our present prospects, the change is so great and 
308 



OLD AGE AND DEATH 

sudden it appears like a dream, and I can hardly 
believe the pleasing reality, that peace, with all 
its train of blessings is returned, and that every- 
one may find Shelter under his own Vine and his 
own Fig-tree, and be happy. Blessed be God! 
the effusion of human blood is stopped. Truth 
may now also appear in its full force and native 
Lustre, without dread of the ojjpressive hand of 
power as heretofore, when the injured were not 
heard, or heard only to be treated with contempt 
and insult; when in justice to themselves they 
would disprove those horrid falsehoods and mis- 
representations which natural malevolence or party 
rage inspired. How much has this unhappy land 
felt the insolence of power and wanton cruelty ; there 
are but few here but can feelingly tell a tale of woe. 
Were I to enumerate the distresses that have come 
to my own knowledge I should distress you and 
mj'Self beyond measure, for their sorrows were 
greater than mine, and I experienced a large share 
of the bitter portion dealt out at those evil times. 
Both my Sons, their wives and Infants were ex- 
iled. "Wounded sick and emaciated with a very 
2:)ittance to support them in a strange Land [Phila- 
delphia] they imbarked. Their estates had been 
long before sequestrated and mine was shattered 
and ruined, which left me little power to assist 
them; nor had I in Country or Town a place to 
lay my head, all was taken out of my possession ; 
my house I lived in, that in Colleton Square, and 
at Belmont, all was taken from me, nor was I able. 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

to hire a lodging. But let me forget as soon as 
I can their cruelties, I wish to forgive and will 
say no more on this subject, and hope our joy and 
gratitude for our great deliverance may equal our 
former anguish, and our contentment in medioc- 
rity, and moderation in prosperity, equal the forti- 
tude with which the greatest number even of our 
sex sustained the great reverse of fortune they 
experienced." 

Ill a subsequent letter she adds of her sons : 

*^ Those firm and undaunted men in danger and 
under suffering, are now among the most lenient 
and merciful, using all their influence in calming 
the violence of their fellow sufferers, who sore 
with their recent ill usage, are ready to retalliate 
those Injuries they have received, (at least in 
part,) now the powder is in their hand; and this 
they can do with a good grace, and their reasoning 
sometimes moderates the violence.'' 

This alludes to the measures of retaliation 
(chiefly by fines) now advocated against the 
Tories. As is usual in such cases, the men who 
had fought were, now that peace had come, the 
most willing to forgive and forget. 

General Marion exerted his great influence 
in behalf of those against whom he had so 
persistently made war, and the Pinckneys and 
many other gallant soldiers took the same part. 
The penalties inflicted were comparatively few 

310 



OLD AGE AND DEATH 

and light ; but years were to pass before people 
could generally believe, as was said by an emi- 
nent jurist, that " all the vices were not in a 
Tory camp, or all the virtues in a Rebel one." 

The last public appearance of Mrs. Pinckney 
was one in which she must have taken great 
delight. It was when in 1791 General Wash- 
ington, on his southern tour, stopped to break- 
fast at Hampton. We all have heard of his 
" Most Sacred Majesty's disjune at Tillietud- 
lem," the abiding pride of Lady Margaret Bel- 
lenden. Even such was the pride and pleasure 
of Mrs. Pinckney and her family, in receiving 
the "Father of his Country." The general 
left Georgetown early, and, travelling with four 
horses, reached Hampton on the South Santee 
by eleven, having crossed three large rivers in 
the fifteen-mile drive. He was accompanied 
by Major Pinckney and several other gentlemen, 
and turned aside about a mile from the hiorh- 
road to breakfast with the ladies. He was 
received by Mrs. Horry, with her mother on 
the one hand, her daughter on the other, and 
her nieces around her, under the handsome 
new portico with lofty columns which she had 
just added to the house. 

The ladies were arrayed in sashes and ban- 
deaux painted with the general's portrait and 
mottoes of welcome ; and after a stately re- 
311 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

ception he was led to the large ball-room, just 
built, where an elaborate breakfast awaited 
him, the gentlemen of his suite, and many of 
the neighbors, who had gathered to greet him. 
Before leaving, he observed a handsome young 
oak growing rather too near the house, which 
Mrs. Horry proposed to cut down, as it inter- 
fered with the view. The general advised 
that it should be kept, as an oak was a thing 
no man could make ; and there it still stands, — 
'' Washington's Oak " unto this day. 

That grief of advancing years, the frequent 
loss of friends, was now Mrs. Pinckney's. She 
had to mourn the death of the lady with whom, 
ever since her return from England, she had 
been most intimate, — Lady Mary Mackenzie, 
who, having married, first, Mr. Drayton, and, 
secondly, Mr. Ainslie, became lastly the fourth 
wife of the Hon. Henry Middleton. This lady 
had long lived in the closest friendsliip with 
Mrs. Pinckney and Mrs. Horry, being god- 
mother to the daughter of the latter. She died 
at sea on her return from a visit to England, 
and Mrs. Horry writes to her sister, Lady 
Augusta Murray, that her mother was over- 
whelmed with grief. Mrs. Pinckney probably 
had this in mind when she wrote the following 
to her friend Mr. Keate, — the last letter that 
we have from her pen : — 

312 



OLD AGE AND DEATH 

How good you were, my dear sir, to think of 
me again, the second of August, before I had an- 
swered your favor of the fifth of July, I feel 

very sensibly the kindness, and be assured the 
satisfaction your letters give me is among the first 
pleasures I enjoy. How often do I congratulate 
myself that although my acquaintance in the early 
part of life was chiefly among those older than my- 
self, I was so happy to have gained a few valuable 
friends among those that were younger, and of these 
none stands higher in my affection and esteem than 
my much valued friend Mr Keate. He, Heaven 
be praised, is still left to me; how conducive to the 
enjoyment of life are those we have long known! 
^' A friend that has many years been ripening by 
our side ^Ms a treasure indeed, and at a season too 
when time has robbed us of almost all the delights 
produced by an intercourse of amity with those 
with whom we have been early connected. 

Outliving those we love is what gives the prin- 
cipal gloom to long protracted life. There was 
never anything very tremendous to me in the pros- 
pect of old age, the loss of friends excepted, but 
this loss I have keenly felt. This is all the terror 
that the Spectre with the Scythe and Hour-glass 
ever exhibited to my view, Nor since the arrival 
of this formidable period have I had anything else 
to deplore from it. I regret no pleasures that I 
can't enjoy, and I enjoy some that I could not 
have had at an early season. I now see my chil- 
dren grown up, and, blessed be God! see them such 
313 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

as I hoped. Wliat is there in youthful enjoyment 
preferable to this? Wliat is there in youthful en- 
joyment preferable to passions subdued ? what to 
the tranquility which the calm evening of life natu- 
rally produces ? Sincere is my gratitude to Heaven 
for the advantages of this period of life, as well as 
for those that are passed. 

Pray receive my best thanks for the Elegant 
Edition you sent me of your poetical works, those 
and most of your other works I had before though 
not in so rich a dress, and have often perused them 
with great pleasure, unconnected with the Idea of 
their being the production of your pen. Their 
literary merit others enjoy, as well as myself, but 
when I consider the virtues they inculcate as being 
all 3^our own, and flowing from the Benevolent 
Heart of my friend, I then look upon myself as 
particularly interested in them. I think myself 
in company with you, I hear you speak, I recollect 
the happy hours we liave passed together with my 
ever dear Mr Pinckney, whose virtues I still re- 
vere, whose memory I tenderly love, and whose 
uncommon affection and partiality to me will be 
gratefully remembered to my last hour. ... A 
thousand, thousand thanks to you, for your good- 
ness to my dear Daniel. You are no doubt ac- 
quainted with the loss of his poor father. All my 
children join in thanks for your kind remembrance 
of them and beg j^ou and Mrs Keate will accept 
of their affectionate respect. Compliments is too 
cold a word, therefore pray give my love to Mrs 
314 



OLD AGE AND DEATH 

Keate, in that every good wish is expressed, and 
conclude me, 

your affectionate and obliged friend, 

E. PiNCKNEY. 

South Carolina, 

Hampton April 2d. 1786. 

The last sentence is a fitting end to the cor- 
respondence of this loving-hearted woman. 

The end which comes to all came to her sof- 
tened by " Honour, love, obedience, troops of 
friends," and, above all, by the cheerful, strong 
resignation which time and trouble had never 
shaken. Her granddaughter, in the Family 
Legend, dwells lovingly on this trait of her 
character, which she taught to the young people 
about her, and which served some of them well 
m far distant and troublous times. Her favo- 
rite hymn was Addison's, — 

" When all thy mercies, my God, 
My rising soul surveys ; " 

and she dwelt particularly to them on the duty 
expressed in the lines : — 

" Nor is the least a cheerful heart 
That takes those gifts with joy." 

Much physical pain and suffering were hers. 
Attacked by mortal disease, it was decided that 
she should go to Philadelphia, in the hope that 
superior surgical skill might give relief. She 

315 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

embarked, accompanied by her daughter and 
three granddaughters on the 10th of April, 
1793. A rough passage of ten days exhausted 
her, and on reaching Philadelphia she was very 
ill. Congress was sitting, and friends, old and 
new, met them. 

Mrs. Horry records in her diary the kindness 
of many of these : " Mrs. Izard's coach met 
us at the landing and conveyed us to our lodg- 
ing at the Corner of Spruce and Third Street, 
opposite Mr. Binghams gardens [Mrs. Izard 
was Miss DeLancey of New York, wife of Ealpli 
Izard, Senator from South Carolina]. Many 
people called. During the week we were vis- 
ited by several ladies and gentlemen, Mrs. 
Chew, Bingham, Powell, Burrows, Harrison, 
DeBrahm, Kean, Hamilton, Hyrne, Iredell and 
Cadwallader. The President, Mr. Bingham, 
Jackson, Logan, Burrows, Col. Hamilton, Gen'ls 
Stewart and Lincoln, Judge Iredell etc, etc. 
Gen Washington was extremely kind, and said, 
as Mrs. Washington was sick, he offered in her 
name as well as his own everything in their 
power to serve us, and begged we would use no 
ceremony." 

It all pleased the sick woman, for she re- 
ceived it, as indeed it was, as respect shown to 
her sons ; but she was really dying, although 
then they did not know it. For some time the 

31G 



OLD AGE AND DEATH 

doctors gave them much encouragement, but 
she grew suddenly worse, and on May 26, 
after " several hours of great agony, it pleased 
Almighty God to take her to himself." 

Her sons were absent in the last hour, — the 
elder in Carolina, not suspecting so rapid a ter- 
mination to the illness ; the younger in Eng- 
land as Minister to the Court of St. James ; 
but love and honor were around her, and, gently 
supported by loving hands, she went to her rest. 
She was buried in St. Peter's churchyard, 
Philadelphia, May 27, 1793; General Wash- 
ington himself, at his own request, acting as 
one of her pall-bearers. 

No account of Mrs. Pinckney would be com- 
plete without some notice of the result of her 
life-work. She had spared no sacrifice or pain 
to train the young minds given to her care, and 
she was greatly revvai'ded. The services of her 
sons to their country continued with their lives. 
They were chosen by Washington himself for 
important offices, and performed them well, — 
Thomas Pinckney being sent as Minister to 
England and to Spain, where he negotiated the 
important Treaty of San Ildefonso, which se- 
cured to the United States the Florida boun- 
dary and the free navigation of the Mississippi. 

Colonel C. C. Pinckney was sent by Mr. Jef- 
ferson on the more difficult mission to the 
317 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

French Directory in 1797, — a mission which 
failed in its first effort (tlie securing of peace) 
because of the dishonorable terms proposed. 
It was in answer to these that the indignant 
Carolinian declared that his country would 
give "millions for defence, but not one cent 
\for tribute," — an utterance which has never 
been forgotten. 

Colonel Pinckney showed his unselfish patri- 
otism in another instance, perhaps more re- 
markable, as touching a matter dear to a 
soldier's heart, — his military precedence. He 
found on his return from France that in prep- 
aration for the expected war. Colonel Hamil- 
ton had been appointed First Major-General in 
the new organization, he himself the second, and 
General Knox the third. Knox thouglit him- 
self wronged, and refused the nomination ; but 
Pinckney said that he was satisfied that Wash- 
ington had good reasons for the appointment. 
"Let us first dispose of our enemies, we shall 
then have time to settle the question of rank." 
And he offered to let Knox have the second 
place, and take the third himself. 

Both brothers were candidates for the presi- 
dency, and both were unsuccessful on account 
of party complications. Party spirit then ran 
high between Federalist and Democrat; but even 
Mr. Randall, the biographer of Jefferson, the 
318 



OLD AGE AND DEATH 

litterest antagonist of the Federalists, makes 
n honorable exception of the " Rutledges and 
'inckneys " in the accusations which he heaps 
ipon most of their party. 

To be the "friends of Washington" was 
ver the pride of the two brothers. Their 
oyalty to him never failed, and he regarded 
hem with tlie utmost confidence. Perhaps no 
aore remarkable letter ever was w^ritten than 
hat addressed by General Washington to Gen- 
ral C. C. Pinckney and his partner, Mr. Ed- 
rard Rutledge, in which he offers the position 
if Associate Judge in the Supreme Court of 
he United States, left vacant by the resigna- 
ion of Mr. John Rutledge, and says, " Will 
ither of you gentlemen accept it, and if so, 
diich?" 

Almost equally remarkable are the answers 
»f the two friends, in w^hich, after the most 
espectful thanks, they decline the high prefer- 
nent, because, in the existing condition of po- 
itical feeling, they think they can be of most 
ise to the country in the legislature of their 
lative State. 

In 1812, Thomas Pinckney was made Major- 
general commanding the Southern Division, 
)ut no very important service fell to his share, 
rhe latter years of the two brothers were de- 
moted to their family, friends, and people. They 
319 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

were the kindest and most humane of masters, 
and by their inherited love of agricultural ex- 
periment helped much to develop the resources 
of their State. 

Of Mrs. Pinckney's daughter, Mrs. Horry, 
we have already seen much. She, too, inher- 
ited her mother's business talent, managed, as 
she had done, through years of widowhood, a 
large estate with ability and wisdom, and lived 
to a great old age, happy and beloved. 

The descendants of these children were, of 
General C. C. Pinckney, three daughters only. 
Of these, the youngest, Eliza, married Mr. Ralph 
Izard, and left no children. The eldest, Miss 
Maria Henrietta Pinckney, was a woman of mas- 
culine intellect ; she wrote the little paper so 
often referred to as the Family Legend ; and a 
Political Catechism, embodying the southern, 
doctrine of States' Rights, published by her in 
1831 or 1832, is esteemed a wonderfully clear 
and forcible exposition of that faith. The second 
daughter. Miss Harriott Pinckney, long survived 
both her sisters, living to within the last thirty 
years, distinguished for benevolence and cheer- 
ful piety. While rich, she used her great 
wealth for others ; reduced to poverty, she 
bore her trials and privations without a mur- 
mur, shaming by her sweetness and courage the 
fainter hearts of the younger generations, and 
320 



OLD AGE AND DEATH 

dyin.G^ at tlie age of ninety-one, an exemplar of 
tlie virtues of earlier times. 

General Thomas Pinckney left two sons, — 
Thomas, who married Miss Izard and left 
daughters only ; and Charles Cotesworth, who 
married ^liss Elliott. All the descendants of 
Chief Justice Pinckney who inherit his name 
come from this marriage, the Rev. C. C. Pinck- 
ney, Rector of Grace Church, Charleston, be- 
ing the head of the family. General Thomas 
Pinckney left also two daughters : the elder 
married the Hon. William Lowndes ; the younger, 
Colonel Francis Kinloch Huger. 

Mrs. Horry had but two children: Daniel, who, 
having been sent to England very young, be- 
came so attached to European life that he 
never returned to America except on visits. He 
settled in France, where he married the niece of 
General La Fayette, Eleonore de Fay la Tour 
Maubourg, daughter of the Comte de la Tour 
Maubourg. They left no children. A lovely 
picture of this lady still exists. A portrait of 
her husband (who, dropping the name of 
Daniel, called himself Charles Lucas Pinckney 
Horry), a most beautiful painting by Romney, 
was unhappily destroyed in 1865. It w^as a 
fuU-leng-th picture representing a handsome 
youth in college gown and buff satin breeches. 
He held his cap in his hand, and seemed step- 
21 321 



ELIZA PINCKNEY 

ping from the doorway (beautifully painted) 
of Trinity College, Cambridge. Mrs. Horry's 
only daughter married Frederick, son of Gov- 
ernor John Rutledge, and has numerous 
descendants. 

In ending this account of the life and labors 
of this southern matron of the old time, 1 can- 
not refrain from saying one word in behalf of 
the bygone civilization and especially of the 
class which she exemplified. It was, as we are 
often told, indolent, ignorant, self-indulgent, 
cruel, overbearing. Does this life (and such 
were the lives of many) show these faults ? Is 
it not, rather, active, useful, and merciful, ac- 
cepting without hesitation the conditions it 
found, and doing its utmost to make those 
conditions good ? 

If I have succeeded in making this plain, 
then I liave not written in vain. The women 
of all the colonies had committed to them a 
great though an unsuspected charge : to fit 
themselves and their sons to meet the coming 
change (self-government) in law and soberness ; 
not in riot and anarcliy, as did the unhappy 
women of the French Revolution. 

Those of tlie southern states had more to do. 
They had to train and teach a race of savages, 
— a race which had never known even the ru- 
diments of decency, civilization, or religion; a 
322 



OLD AGE AND DEATH 

race which, despite the labors of colonists and 
missionaries, remains in Africa to-day as it was 
a thousand years ago ; but a race, which, influ- 
enced by these lives, taught by these southern 
people for six generations, proved in the day 
of trial the most faithful, the most devoted of 
servants, and was declared in 1863 by the 
northern people worthy to be its equal in civil 
and political rights. 



323 



INDEX 



Albermakl, Lord, 15. 
Alston, Mrs. W., anecdote of, 

286. 
Americans, petition of, to the 

King, 252. 
Amherst, General, 199. 
Anne, Queen, proclamation of, 

on money values, 119. 
Ashley Barony, the, 23G. 
Atkin, Lady Ann, 227. 
Augusta, Princess, 147. 

Bartlett, Miss, letters to, 11 
et seq. 

Bartlett, Mrs., letter to, 94. 

Beddington, 159; an orphan 
asylum, 226. 

Belmont, description of, 101. 

Blake, Governor, 236. 

Blake, Mrs., 236. 

Boddicott, Mrs., superintends 
education of Miss Lucas, 3; 
letters to, 5 et seq. 

Bonnett, Steed, piratical career 
of, 83 et seq. 

Braithwait, Colonel, 19. 

Brewton, Miles, 110. 

Brewton, Mrs. M., 236. 

Broderick, Admiral, 159. 

Bull, Governor William, en- 
ergy of, 204. 



Bull, Mrs.. 236. 
Butler, Miss, 227. 



Campbell, Colonel, 269. 

Campbell, Lord W., Governor 
of the Province, departure 
of, 269 i death of, 269. 

Carew, Lady, letters to, 92 et 
seq. ; death of, 226. 

Carew, Sir Nicholas, 92. 

Caroline of Anspach, Queen of 
George IL, 143. 

Caroline, Princess, 148. 

Cussique of Kiawah, storv of, 
40. 

Cecilia Society, St., description 
of, 230. 

Chardon, Mrs., 39; marriage 
of, 40. 

Charles Town, in 1741, 18; 
social gayeties of, 19 ; de- 
scription of, in 1692, 72 ; 
effect on. of the hurricane of 
1752, 138; armed resistance 
of, begun, 268; siege of, 279; 
capitulation of, to the British, 
280; treatment of people of, 
282 ; evacuation of, 304. 

Chatlield, Mrs,, 159; letter to, 
182. 



825 



INDEX 



Chesterfield, Lord, gift to, 

131. 
Clarke, Rev. Dr., 228. 
Clay, Mrs., kindness of, to 

Major Pinckney, 292. 
Cleland, Mrs., triendsliip of, 

for Miss Lucas, 25. 
Clinton, Sir Henry, capture by, 

of Charles Town, 280. 
Corbett, Mr., 155. 
Cornwallis, Lord, succeeds Sir 

H. Clinton, 281; victory at 

Camden, 291. 
Cotesworth, Mary, 71 ; second 

marriage of, 80. 
Courtenay, William A., quota- 
tion from, 77. 
Coventry, Countess of, 215. 
Cromartie, Earl of, 188. 
Crowfield, description of, 53. 



Dancing Assembly, 230. 

De Brahm, Surveyor, on sects 

in Charles Town, 24. 
Delance, Mr., 238; death of, 

239. 
D'Estaing, Count, lays siege to 

Savannah, 279. 
Deveaux, Mr., 39. 
Dobinure, Captain, engaged in 

a duel, 9. 
Drayton Hall, description of, 

42. 
Drayton, Mrs., 42; invitation 

from, 227. 
Drayton, William Henry, 181; 

order of, as president of 

the Provincial Congress, 

266. 

Edward, Prince, 148. 
Edwards, Vigorous, letters to, 
191 et seq. 



Elizabeth, Princess, 147. 
Eugene, Prince, quoted, 15. 
Evance, Mrs., 172; letters to, 
179 tt Stq. 

Faykweatiier, Miss Fanny, 

59. 
Fraser, Charles, Reminiscences 

of Charleston, 229. 

Gadsden, Christopher, 266, 
Garden, Rev. Commissary, 

prefers charges against 

Whitfield, 22; honored by 

Linnteus, 102. 
Gay, Rev. Mr., 90. 
George H., King, 184 ; death 

of, 215. 
George HL, King, when Prince 

of Wales, 148 ; coronation of, 

215. 
Gerrard, Mr., school of, 171; 

letters to, 207 et seq. 
Gherard, Mr., marriage of, 

237. 
Glen, Governor, 68; appoints 

Colonel Pinckney Chief 

Justice, 134; house of, 167. 
Golightly, Miss, family of, 

234; marriage of, 234 ; letter 

to, 235. 
Graeme, Chief Justice, death 

of, 134. 
Grant, Colonel, 204. 
Green, Richard, in prosecution 

of Whitfield, 23. 
Greene, General, takes com- 
mand, 298. 

Hampton, situation of, 241 ; 

reception at, to General 

W^ashington, 311. 
Henry, Prince, 147 
Heron, Colonel, 60. 



326 



INDEX 



Hicks, Mrs., school of, 58. 

Horry, Charles L. P., marriage 
of,'321. 

Horry, Daniel, family of, 240 ; 
lirst marriage of, 241 : mar- 
riage of to Miss Pinckney, 
241; birth of son of, 247; 
birili of daughter of, 274; 
capture of, 287; death of, 
306. 

Horry, Daniel, Jr., birth of, 
247; sent to England to be 
educated, 306 ; marriage of, 
321. 

Horry, Harriott Pinckney, 
birth of, 274; earliest recol- 
lection of, 286; marriage of, 
322. 

Horry, Thomas, 231. 

Howe, General, failure of, on 
Georgia expedition, 272. 

Huger, Eliza, letter of, 254. 

Huger, Mr., marriage of, 234. 

Huger, Col. F. K., exploit of, 
235 ; marriage of, 321. 

Hutson, Rev. Dr., 228. 

Hvrne, Mrs., invitation from, 
227. 

Indigo, first mention of, 7; 
how made, 102 et seq. ; ex- 
port of, to England, begun, 
106; value of, 107. 

Izard, Miss, letter to, 236 ; mar- 
riage of, 209. 

Izard, Ralph, 236; marriage 
of, 320. 

Jackson, Rev, Cyril, tutor to 

C. C. Pinckne}'," 246. 
Johnson, Governor, attack of, 

on pirates, 83. 
Johnson, Sir Nathaniel, 80; 

interest of, in silk culture, 

330; fort built by, 266. 



327 



Keate, Mr., letters to, 223 et 

seq. 
King, Lord, 159. 
King, Mrs., 159; letters to, 

190 et seq. 
King, Wilhelmiua, letter of, 

213. 



Ladsox, Major James, 251. 

Lafayette, General, marriage 
of niece of, 321. 

LamboU, Mr., on the hurricane 
of 1752, 139. 

Laurens, Henry, 228; at siege 
of Charles Town, 280. 

Lawson, John, account of Car- 
olina, 76; description of 
French Santee, 240. 

Le Fdboure, Admiral M., at- 
tack of, on Charles Town, 80. 

Leigh, Peter, appointed Chief 
Justice, 135. 

Lexington, news of the battle 
of, 263. 

Library, Charles Town, de- 
scription of, 229. 

Lincoln, General, expedition 
of, 272. 

Logan, Mrs., 228. 

Lowndes, Hon. W., marriage 
of, 321. 

Lucas, George, Lieutenant- 
Colonel in English army, 1 ; 
brings his family to South 
Carolina and buys planta- 
tions, 1 ; return of, to island 
of Antigua, 1; appointed 
Royal Governor, 1; interest 
of, in cultivation of indigo, 
8; business relations of, with 
Colonel Pinckne}-, 121 ; death 
of, 133. 

Lucas, Mrs. George, delicate 
health of, 1; departure of, 



INDEX 



for Antigua, 97; letters to, 

175 et seq. 
Lucas, George, Jr., enters the 

English army, 12; ilhiess of, 

in Antigua, 64. 
Lucas, Poll}', 19; at school, 58. 
Lucas, Thomas, bad heaUh of, 

12 and 63; arrival of, in 

Antigua, 98. 
Luttrell, Major, 157. 
Lyttleton, Governor, private 

letters of, 195 ; note from, 227. 



Mackenzie, Lady Ann, 188. 

Mackenzie, Lady Mar}-, mar- 
riages of, 312;'death'of, 312. 

Manigault, Gabriel, patriotism 
of, 154. 

Manigault, Mrs., 154. 

Mansion House, description of, 

no. 

Marion, General, first campaign 

of, 204; anecdote of, 284. 
Matliews, Jack, marriage of, 

238. 
Middleton, Arthur, 251. 
Middleton, Hon. Henry, 250. 
Middleton Place, 44. 
Middleton, Sally, marriage of, 

237. 
Middleton, Sarah, marriage of, 

250; death of, 307. 
Middleton, Co'.onel Thomas, 204. 
Montagu, Lady C, invitation 

from, 227; regard of, for 

Miss Pinckney, 232. 
Montagu, Lord C., 227. 
Montagu, Ladv Mary Wortlev, 

142. 
Montgomery, Colonel, 199. 
Morley, George, 172; letters 

to, 173 et seq. 
Motte, Elizabeth, marriage of, 

274. 



Motte, Mary, anecdote of, 286. 

Motte, Mrs., anecdote of, 299. 

Moultrie, General, first cam- 
paign of, 204; from the Me- 
moirs of, 262. 

Murray, Hon. George, mar- 
riage of, 188. 

Murray, Lady A., 312. 

NoRBERKY, Captain, killed in 
a duel, 9. 

OcKHAM Court, 159. 

Oglethorpe, General, attacks 
of, on the Spaniards, 14; 
invites Whitfield to Caro- 
lina, 22; dislike of Miss 
Lucas for, 60; trial and ac- 
quittal of, 62. 

Onslow, Colonel, 159. 

Onslow, Mrs., 159. 

Pickens, General, first cam- 
])aign of, 204. 

Pinckney, Colonel Charles, 
acquaintance of, with Miss 
Lucas, 15; marriage of, to 
Miss Lucas, 08; boyhood and 
youth of 79, et seq. ; first 
marriage of, 87 ; character, 
disposition and appearance 
of, 87; business relations of, 
v/ith Governor Lucas, 121; 
appointment of, as Chief Jus- 
tice, L34; made Commissioner 
of the Colony in London, 135; 
departure of, for England, 
141 ; return of, to Carolina, 
366; death of, 167; will of, 
184; portraits of, 199. 

Pinckney, Mrs. diaries, letter 
to, 15; fondness of, for Miss 
Lucas, 26 : death of, 67. 



328 



INDEX 



Pinckney, Charles Cotesworth, 
birth of, 108; at school in 
England, IGU; at school at 
Westminster, 211; graduated 
at Oxford, studies law, and is 
admitted to the bar, 2-lG; re- 
turn of, to Carolina, 247; 
patriotism of, 247; marriage 
of, 250; made Captain ou 
breaking out of the Revolu- 
tion, 200; serves as aide to 
General Washington, 271; 
made Colonel and serves un- 
der General Howe, 271 ; cap- 
ture of, 281 ; birth of a son to, 
292; daughters of, 307; mem- 
ber of the Constitutional Con- 
vention, 307; mission of, to 
the French Directory, 317; 
anecdote of, 318; candidate 
for the presidency, 318; de- 
scendants of, 320. 

Pinckney, Charles Cotesworth, 
Jr., birth of, 292. 

Pinckney, Eliza, marriage of, 
320. 

Pinckney, Eliza Lucas, ar- 
rival of, in South Carolina, 
1; education of, in England, 
3; assumes direction of plan- 
tation, 4; description of her 
home in Carolina, 5; her 
love of agriculture, 7; spe- 
cial interest of, in cultiva- 
tion of indigo, 8; manner of, 
in girlhood, 11; letters of, 
to her father, 13 tt seq.; 
letters of, to Mrs. Pinckney, 
15 e.t seq.; acquaintance of, 
with Colonel Charles Pinck- 
ney, 15: letters of, to her 
brother George, 17 et seq.; 
passion of, for music, 27 ; let- 
ters of, to Colonel Pinckney, 



29 et seq.; daily life of, in 
the country, 30; her love of 
nature, 36; legal studies of, 
52; on marriage, 55; dis- 
like of, for General Ogle- 
thorpe, 60; marriage of, to 
Colonel Pinckney, 68; in de- 
fence of her husband's char- 
acter, 95; birth of first son 
of, 108; "Resolutions" of, 
115; experiments of, with 
flax and hemp, 124; under- 
takes the cultivation of silk, 
130; death of the father and 
second child of, 133; birth of 
second son of, 136; depart- 
ure of, for England, 141; 
takes a house in Richmond, 
141; experience of, with 
small-pox, 143; account of 
visit to widowed Princess 
of Wales, 144; admiration of, 
for Garrick, 159; alarm of, 
concerning depredations of 
the French, 162; return of, to 
Carolina, 166; death of hus- 
band of, 167; letters of, to 
her sons, 170 et seq. ; return 
of, to Belmont, 188; planta- 
tion life of, 190; severe ill- 
ness of, 201; letters of, to 
English friends, 206 et seq.; 
marriage of daughter of, 
241 ; letters of, to Daniel 
Horry, 243 et seq.; letters 
of, to her daughter, 258 et 
seq.; courage and loyalty of, 
on breaking out of Revolu- 
tion, 269; entertains General 
Washington, 311: illness of, 
315; journey to Philadelphia, 
316; death "of, 317; burial of, 
317. 



329 



INDEX 



Pinckney, Harriott, birth of, 
136 ; visit of, to widowed 
PriHcess of Wales, 144:; re- 
turn of, to Carolina, 16G ; por- 
trait of, 231; letters of, 231, 
tt seq.; marriage of, 241; 
birth of son of, 247; letters 
to, 252 et seq. ; alarm of, 2G7 ; 
adventure of, with General 
Marion, 284; receives Gen- 
eral Washington, 311; jour- 
ney of, to Philadelphia, 312; 
descendants of, 32J. 

Pinckney, Maria Henrietta, 
author of Family Legend, 
1G8 and 320. 

Pinckne}', Thomas, birth of, 
136; on law of primogeni- 
ture, 208 ; at school at West- 
minster, 211; visit of, to 
Carolina, 251; studies of, at 
Caen, 251; return of, to 
Carolina, 257 ; first appear- 
ance of, in court, 260; made 
Captain on breaking out of 
Revolution, 26G; military his- 
tory of, 270; made Major, 
272; marriage of, 274; es- 
cape of, from Charles Town, 
281; wounded and captured 
at battle of Camden, 291; 
removal of. 295; joins Wash- 
ington's army, 298; minister 
to England and Spain, 317; 
candidate for the presidency, 
318: made Major-General in 
1812, 319; descendants of, 
321. 

Pringle, Miss, 110. 

Prioleau, Mrs. S., funeral of, 
25fi. 

Provost, General, attack of, on 
Charles Town in 1779, 169; 
marches to besiege Charles 



Town, 275 ; defeat and retreat 
of, 279. 

QuiNCY, Josiah, description 
by, of Charles Town library, 
229; on the St. Cecilia So- 
ciety, 230. 

Resolutions of Mrs. Pinck- 
ney, 115. 

Rutledge, Andrew, in defence 
of Whitfield, 23. 

Rutledge, Edward, letter of 
Washington to, 319. 

Rutledge, Frederick, marriage 
of, 322. 

Rutledge, Governor, escape of, 
from Charles Town, 281. 

SA>iDFOKD, Robert, 40. 
Savannah, siege of, 279. 
Sayle, Governor, 4. 
Serr(?, Miss, marriage of, 241. 
Shaftesbury Papers, quoted, 4, 

40. 
Shubrick, Mrs., offer of, 202. 
Smith, Landgrave, 72. 
Stamp Act, reception of, in 

Carolina, 249. 
Stobo, Rev. Mr., called to 

Charles Town, 80. 

Tarlkton, Colonel, anecdote 

of, 285. 
Theatre, Charleston, 229. 
Tradd, Elizabeth, 74. 
Tradd, Richard, 74. 
Tradd, Robert, first male child 

born in Charles Town, 74. 
Trapier, Miss, letter of, 264. 

Vernon, Admiral, capture by, 
of Porto-Bello, 13. 



330 



INDEX 



Wales, Princess Dowager of, 
gift lo, i;il; life of, at Kew, 
144; visit of Mrs. Pinckney 
to, 144. 

Washington, General, enter- 
tainment of, at Hampton, 
311; a pall-bearer at Mrs. 
rinckney's funeral, 317; let- 
ter of, 319. 

Washington's Oak, 312. 

Wells, Kobert, bookshop of, 228. 



Whitfield, Rev. George, eccle- 
siastical trial of, 21. 

William, Prince, 147. 

Woodward, Dr., 40. 

Woodward, Mrs., 39; letters 
to, 141 et seq. 

Worley, Kicliard, piratical ca- 
reer of, 83. 

Wragg, Miss, marriage of, 238. 

YEAMAhS, Sir John, 40. 



3.31 




WOMEN OF COLONIAL and 
REVOLUTIONARY TIMES 

XDER this o-eneral title Messrs. 
Charles Scribiier's Sons are pub- 
lishing a scries of volumes (three 
of which are now ready), the aim 
of whicli is not only to present 
carefully studied portraits of the 
most distinguished women of Colo- 
nial and Revolutionary times, but to 
^ offer as a background for these por- 
traits pictures of the domestic and social, in- 
stead of the political and other public, life of 
the people in successive periods of national 
development. 

The project thus includes a series of closely 
connected narratives, vivid in color and of 
the highest social and historical value, of the 
manners and customs, the ways of life, and 
the modes of thought of the people of the 
Puritan, Knickerbocker, and Cavalier sec- 
tions of the country from the days of the 
earliest colonists down to the middle of the 
present century. In the painting of these 
scenes use has been freely made of documents 
usually ignored as trivial by the historians or 
the biographer, — old letters, wills, inventories, 
bills, etc., from which have been gleaned many 
curious and interesting details of the daily 
life of the women of Colonial and Revolu- 
tionary days. Diaries, memoirs and autobi- 
ographies also, — in fact, all sources have been 
drawn upon for material to add to the truth- 
fulness and attractiveness of the picture. 



Now Ready 

MARGARET WINTHROP (wife of Gov- 
ernor John Winthrop, of Massaclmsetts). By 
Alice Morse Earle. With Facsimile Repro- 
duction. 12mo, gilt top, rough edges, flat 
back, $1.25. 

N. Y. Sun : " It is to be hoped that the whole 
series will reach the standard of excellence fixed 
by the initial volume. In some 330 pages Mrs. 
Earle has condensed the outcome of an immense 
amount of work." 

Phila. Piihlic Ledger : "She has given us a thor- 
oughly complete and interesting account of tlie 
domestic life and customs of that far-otf time, with 
some charming love-letters." 

N. Y. Tribune : " It is a vivid portraiture of the 
life of the Puritan woman, and properly introduces 
the series of volumes in which we are to see the 
social development of the countr}^ illustrated in 
the careers of representative women of Colonial 
and Revolutionary times." 

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raphy, romance combined. It is accurate in its 
descriptions, authoritative in its statements, and 
exquisitely cliarming in its portraiture. Mrs. 
Earle has already done some excellent work ; but 
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taste ; and, altogether, the publishers are to be 
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execution of their venture." 



Boston Beacon .- " It is througliout a, vastly enter- 
taining and instnietive narrative, which every one 
who wishes to nnderstand the exquisite romance 
and noble horoisni that nnderhiy the hard and 
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tanism will read with eager pleasure. Mrs. Earle 
has produced a study in historical biography 
which is a masterpiece in its way, and that is well 
worthy of having a permanent place in literature." 

Now Ready 

DOLLY MADLSON (wife of James Madison). 
By Maud Wilder Goodwin, author of " The 
Colonial Cavalier," and " The Head of a 
Hundred." With Portrait, 12mo, $1.25. 

Mrs. Goodwin's other books in this field are 
an ample guaranty of the quality of her new 
volume, which is the fruit of careful and labo- 
rious research, and which embodies in an 
attractive form much new and entertaining 
information about a woman whose high char- 
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have always made her an object of special 
interest. 
Chapter Headings 

T-Chi1.ihoo(l VITT-War Clondg 

ir- A Quaker Girlhood IX-Tlje Burning of Wasbing- 

ITI— Friend John Todd ton 

IV—" The Great Little Madi- X— Peace 

son " X! — Life at IVrontpellier 

V— Tlie New Capital XI I— Virginia Hospitalitv 

VI— Wife of the Secretary of XIII— Last Days at INIontpellier 

State XIV— Waehington Once More 

Yll-In the White House XV— Old Age and Death 

No\v Ready 

ELIZA PINCKNEY (wife of Chief Justice 
Pinckney, of South Carolina). By Harriott 
Horry Raven kl, Great-great-granddaugliter 



of Mrs. Pinckney. With Facsimile Repro- 
duction, 12mo, $1.2b. 

Mrs. Ravenel's book gives an extraordinarily 
valuable and entertaining picture of social and 
domestic life in South Carolina, from 1737 
through the Revolutionary War. It is based 
upon a large number of hitherto unpublished 
letters written by and to Mrs. Pinckney, de- 
picting in great detail and with an indescrib- 
able charm the manners, customs, and mode 
of life of her day, and thus having a decided 
historical as well as an intimate personal 
interest. 
Chapter Headings 

I— First Years in Carolina IX— Death of Chief Justice 
II— MaTit\er8 and Cnstoni^ Pinckney 
II 1— A Country Neighborhood X— Tlie Indian Wars 
IV -Marriage XI— Letters to English Friends 
V— The Pinckney Family XII— Domestic and Social De- 
VI— Early Married Life tails 
VII-Motherhood XIII— Beginning of the Kevolu- 
VIIL— Visit to England tion 
Etc., etc. 

In Preparation 

MARTHA WASHINGTON (wife of George 
Washington). By Anne Hollingsworth 
Whauton, author of " Through Colonial Door- 
ways," and '" Colonial Days and Dames." 
With Portrait. 

» MERCY OTIS WARREN (sister of James 
Otis). By Alice Brown, author of "Agnes 
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land Romance," and " Meadow-Grass : Tales 
of New Enghmd Life." With Portrait. 

Charles Sciibner's Sons, Publishers 
153-157 Fifth Avenue, New York 






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